Tangled Up And Untied
by Bexish
Summary: By Rory's junior year at Stars Hollow High she's got a pretty good grip on who she is... until Jess moves to town. She never thought she was the type of girl who'd cheat on her boyfriend, but Rory is starting to learn that maybe she doesn't know what type of girl she is at all. Starts at episode 2x05, Nick & Nora/Sid & Nancy.
1. The Pieces That Make You Whole

A/N: Welcome to a new story! It starts off kind of slowly, but I promise it will pick up. The story title and chapter titles come from the lyrics of "You've Got Me" by Jillian Edwards. I don't own Rory or Jess or any other Gilmore Girls thing which is good because it would make writing fanfiction a lot less fun for me. I hope you enjoy!

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><p>"We're having people over for dinner tonight, so don't be too long after school," Lorelai said, passing her daughter a cup of coffee. She already had hers in a travel mug and was holding her keys in the other hand, about to head out to work.<p>

Rory looked up from her checking over her pre-calculus homework uncomprehendingly. They weren't the type of people to have guests over for dinner. Usually the ordered in or went out for dinner. "But it's Tuesday," she said. "It's grab bag night at Al's." Ordering Al's on Tuesday nights was a tradition. Ordering pizza on Tuesday nights was also frequently a tradition. Rory had once questioned the fiscal responsibility of order dinner from two different places, but Lorelai likened it to getting popcorn at the movies—you were paying to be entertained, not necessarily for the food. Rory hadn't complained about grab bag night since, and looked forward to it each week.

"Grab bag night will be there next week," Lorelai said, slipping her shoes on. "Tonight we are having Luke and his nephew over for dinner. And Sookie, because she's cooking."

"Nephew?" Rory echoed. "I didn't know Luke had a nephew."

"I didn't either, but I ran into Luke yesterday and he said his nephew was coming to live with him and would be here today, so I invited them over for dinner. I'd say I'll fill you in more later, but I don't know much more than that," Lorelai said. She kissed Rory on the head. "I'm sure your homework is great," she said. "If you stare at it for too long you'll go cross-eyed."

Rory snorted. "That's not true," she said, taking a sip of her coffee. "I just want to make sure it's perfect." Even though she was still a junior, Rory was on track to be valedictorian when she graduated from Stars Hollow High next year. She didn't want to jeopardize that by getting distracted and making a mistake on her homework. Half her teachers gave them full credit for just completing their homework, but what was the point of doing the assignment if you weren't going to do it right?

"It's perfect," Lorelai assured her, looking at the clock on the microwave. "Crap, I'm going to be late. I've got a meeting this morning. Lock the door behind you and don't forget about dinner!" She shouted the reminder as she dashed toward the front door. Rory shook her head. She knew her mom was great at her job, but she was chronically late to early morning meetings. Neither she nor Rory were morning people. The one exception to that rule was cherry Danish day at Luke's, when they made sure to get up extra early so they could have breakfast before they went their separate ways.

By the time she finished her coffee Rory was satisfied that her homework was 100% correct. She didn't love math, but she was determined to qualify for advanced placement calculus so she could take the AP test. She knew she was a dead ringer for AP English already and she was confident that she could get into AP biology and AP U.S. history, but calculus made her nervous. She couldn't let it get the better of her, though. Rory's mom didn't have enough money to send her to a fancy private school, but Rory planned on going to Harvard anyway. She wasn't going to let a little thing like public school get in the way of her dream college.

Stars Hollow High wasn't the most glamorous or exclusive school, but Rory liked it okay anyway. Pretty much everyone there had been in school together since kindergarten and people were generally nice, so there was always someone you could get notes from if you had to miss class. Of course, a small school also meant that people's groups of friends had been cemented for years. Outside of her best friend, Rory didn't have a lot of close friends. She and Lane sat with a group of girls at lunch and there was always someone to partner with in class if an assignment called for it, but most of the people there were merely her acquaintances. Rory went to school to learn and study and a lot of people there didn't share her academic mindset. It wasn't unusual to see girls painting their nails in class, or boys flicking paper footballs at each other. Luckily, not everyone was like that.

Rory had just walked up the steps when she heard someone call her name. "You're not usually here this early." Dean walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, but she pulled away. She and Dean had been dating since he moved to Stars Hollow from Chicago a year ago, but Rory still wasn't entirely comfortable with public displays of affection, especially at school. She was a pretty private person.

"My mom had an early meeting, so I guess we were both ready quicker than usual," Rory said, walking beside Dean to her locker. "Did you do the pre-calc homework last night?"

"I'm not letting you look at my homework," Dean said with a laugh. "Every time I do I just end up finding out I did the entire assignment wrong. I'm sure yours is perfect." He squeezed her hand reassuringly, and she smiled. Dean was her first boyfriend, and he was pretty much the best guy a girl could ask for. He was sweet and easygoing, and he was always full of encouragement. Quite a few girls had looked his way when he moved to Stars Hollow, but for some reason he had picked Rory. She didn't understand how such a beautiful, athletic boy had singled her out but she tried not to question it too much.

Rory and Dean had different classes first period, so she didn't have time to tell him that she wouldn't be able to hang out after school like they usually did. Most days they either went to the library to do their homework or went to Dean's house to watch movies. It would have been nice to hang out at Rory's house since they always had better snacks there, but Dean's mom wasn't on board with them hanging out in a house where no adults were around. At first Rory hadn't understood why they weren't allowed to be alone. Adults not trusting her was an entirely foreign concept to her. In time, she had just learned to accept it. Dean's family could be a little overbearing, but they were sweet.

She made a mental note to tell Dean about the change in plans as she settled into her seat in English. One problem with Stars Hollow High was the fact that they only offered one 11th grade English class. Even seniors only got to choose between AP English and English 12, depending on their grades. Rory would have liked more options, but she really couldn't complain. They had already read two books that year that Rory had already read, so it gave her a chance to re-read the books and look at them more critically. It definitely made writing essays about the books a lot easier. Her teachers always praised her for how thorough her reading assignments were, although Rory had once caught a classmate rolling her eyes during one of her book reports.

At least Lane was in her pre-calculus class. "Do you want to go to Luke's after school?" Lane asked, sliding into the desk next to Rory's. "My mom has an emergency bible study tonight, so I can actually order coffee this time." Lane's mom considered coffee a gateway drug and Lane was too afraid that her mom would be able to smell it on her breath to order it usually.

"I can't tonight," Rory said, digging through her bag for her math folder. Her bag was organized within an inch of its life, but it was also incredibly full which made it difficult to get things out at times. "What is emergency bible study?"

"I have no idea, but I'm glad I don't have to go," Lane said. "I do have to go out to dinner with my parents and the Lees on Friday night, though. Apparently their son is going to be a doctor."

Rory winced. "Uh oh," she said. "Did your parents pick out your wedding ring yet?"

"I think they're keeping it in the same drawer as my chastity belt," Lane joked. The teacher gave her a stern look and started writing on the whiteboard, a sign that class was about to start. "I've met their son before at church and I don't think it's going to work out," Lane whispered. "I'm pretty sure he isn't into me, or any other girl."

"Poor guy," Rory whispered back, flipping to a clean page in her notebook to copy down the notes on the whiteboard. Lane's parents were constantly trying to set her up with virtuous Korean future doctors that they knew through their church, and so far Lane had made sure none of the dates worked out. She preferred blonds.

Rory saw Lane again at lunch, but they both spent the period cramming for a chemistry test they had that afternoon. They didn't have the class together, but Rory did have the class with Dean. Normally they had plenty of time to talk since they were lab partners, but that day Dean was already sitting at his desk pouring over his notes when Rory walked in. "Don't worry too much," Rory said. "You'll do great."

"No, _you'll_ do great," Dean said. "I will get a C. Or a D." Dean was smart, but chemistry wasn't his best subject. Rory could help him out during their labs, but he was on his own with the test. She gave him a sympathetic smile and pulled out her own notes, although she was feeling pretty confident about the test. She and Lane had quizzed each other on the formulas during lunch, and they had both done well.

Rory was feeling pretty good when school let out after chemistry. She thought she had done well on the test and even though at first she had questioned the necessity of having Luke over for dinner, she was looking for good food. Grab bag night was fun, but Sookie's food was light years better. As they walked out of school, Dean slipped his arm around her waist. "So, what do you want to do today? I thought maybe we could get some fries from Luke's and take them back to my house. I forgot to pack a lunch this morning and the spaghetti the cafeteria had was awful."

"Actually, I have to get home," Rory said. Technically it was still early and she probably didn't have to be home right away, but the idea of having an afternoon to herself wasn't entirely unappealing. If she was forced to pick a fault of Dean's, she might have said that he was a little too enthusiastic about hanging out with her. He usually wanted to hang out with her every day, even when they were both doing homework quietly at the library. Most of the time she didn't mind at all, but every now and then it was nice to just kick back with some Pop-Tarts and music Dean didn't like.

Dean frowned, his forehead creasing. "Why?"

Rory shrugged. "We're having Luke and his nephew over for dinner," she said, fiddling with her watch. "My mom wants me to pick up a little since she's still at work." Lorelai had never actually said that, although that's what Rory planned to do since she and her mom never made cleaning a priority and their living room had seen better days.

"I didn't know Luke had a nephew," Dean said.

"I didn't either," Rory said. "Apparently he's going to live with him and is getting here today."

"So you have to spend your evening hanging out with Luke and some kid?" Dean asked, sounding a little miffed. Rory didn't understand what the problem was. They hadn't had real plans for the afternoon, just an understanding that they usually did things after school. What was one day of not hanging out?

Rory adjusted the strap on her backpack, not meeting Dean's eyes. "It's not a big deal," she muttered. "We can hang out tomorrow," she added in a more cheerful voice, realizing she had sounded a little annoyed herself. As they reached the street where Dean lived Rory rose up on her toes and gave him a kiss. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

"Will you at least call me tonight?" Dean asked, still sounding a little put out.

Rory nodded. "Of course," she said. She called Dean every night, even when they did hang out. Most nights they didn't have a lot to talk about, but he liked when she called to say goodnight. It was kind of nice, although Rory had fallen asleep early a few times and then felt bad the next morning about missing their call.

She would definitely call him tonight, she thought as she walked into her house. It was hardly his fault that her mom had made other plans for them without asking Rory if she had plans, and he had obviously been upset. As she turned on the stereo and grabbed the vacuum she considered calling him before dinner too, but decided that calling him at their usual time was good enough. She wasn't sure what time Luke and his nephew would be over, but there was a fair amount of cleaning to do beforehand. After vacuuming Rory even ventured into the kitchen and experimentally wiped at the counters, hoping Sookie found them acceptable. They never really used the kitchen, so how messy could it be?

Sookie got to the house even before Lorelai did. "Hi, sweet pea," she said, lugging several stuffed grocery bags. "Can you grab one of these for me? I think the one on the right is about to slip."

Rory grabbed the bag and carried it into the kitchen, trying to peek inside on the way. "This is a lot of food," she observed. "What exactly are you making tonight?"

"Oh, a little bit of everything," Sookie said. "I meant to make some things last night, but Jackson and I were late to our movie so we had to go to the late show. I've got Lou covering the dinner shift at the inn."

That was a surprise. Sookie usually hated delegating, and she really hated leaving other people in charge for a whole meal. "Wow, you and my mom are really going all out for this," Rory remarked, grabbing a Coke from the fridge. "Until this morning I didn't even know Luke had a nephew."

"That's what your mom was saying yesterday," Sookie said, pulling a huge slab of meat out of a bag. "Pot roast," she explained. "Do you think Jess will eat pot roast?"

It took Rory a second to process Sookie's question. "Jess is the nephew," she clarified. "Mom had to rush to work this morning and was only good for the headlines. I think everyone eats pot roast." If Jess didn't like it, Rory would eat his share. Pot roast was her favorite food.

Sookie didn't look convinced, but started rubbing salt and pepper into the meat anyway. "If not, there will be plenty of side dishes," she said. "I'm making macaroni and cheese. And salad, because I don't know a lot about Luke's eating habits but I know he eats salad. Jackson's bringing over a fruit salad later, too."

Rory wrinkled her nose. She would pass on the salad, fruit or otherwise. "I can't wait for the mac and cheese," she said. Sookie's macaroni and cheese was the stuff of legends.

"Did someone say mac and cheese?" Lorelai asked, walking into the kitchen. "I could eat some mac and cheese." She grabbed a handful of the cheddar Sookie had just shredded and danced away before Sookie could swat her with the spoon she was holding. "I told Luke to be here at seven, so we've got two hours to make it look like we are accommodating and normal people." As it to demonstrate how accommodating she was, she set a box of Ding Dongs out on the kitchen table. Rory grabbed one, having a feeling they would be gone before dinner with her and her mom around.

"Even with the snack cakes, I think we might need more than two hours for that," Rory said. "Since everything is under control here I'm going to get some of my homework out of the way before dinner."

Lorelai shook her head. "I don't know where you get your motivation from," she said, amazed. Rory just shrugged. To her, two hours of homework was nothing. When she had a test coming up she would study for hours on end. Spending a couple of hours doing a regular amount of homework was no big deal. Even though she didn't have a lot of it, she wanted to get it done before dinner. With her mom there was no way to tell how long Luke and his nephew would be over, and she owed Dean a phone call.

Homework came first, though. She was in the middle of proofreading an article she had written for the school newspaper a while later when her mom knocked lightly on her open door. "Rory, come say hi to our guests!"

"I'll be there in a minute," Rory promised. She turned back to her computer to save her article and was surprised to see a guy standing in her doorway when she got up to join her mom. "Oh. Hi," she said. For some reason, she had pictured a younger kid when Lorelai had talked about Luke's nephew. In his beat-up canvas jacket and dark jeans, Jess definitely did not look like a young kid.

Jess smirked at her surprise. "Hey."


	2. A Way Of Cutting Me In Half

Jess walked into her room, running a finger along the edge of her bookshelf. "You've got a lot of books," he noted, glancing idly at the spines. Rory watched him, not sure what to say. She wasn't used to having strangers in her bedroom and it made her a little bit uncomfortable. Her bedroom wasn't embarrassing or anything, but it was a little nerve-wracking to have someone scrutinizing her book collection.

"I like to read," Rory said. Jess nodded, but didn't say anything. "Do you like to read?" she asked finally, just to break the silence.

Jess didn't answer her. He had moved over to her desk and was glancing at her computer. "Reading and writing," he said. "Someone likes English." He looked so casual, like he and Rory were old friends and he wasn't entirely out of place in her bedroom. She half expected him to sit down on her bed and comment on the pillowcases she had chosen. Instead, he started examining her window. "Is this locked?" he asked.

"No, it just slides up," Rory said, confused. "Why?"

"So we can leave," Jess said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Come on, you don't want to have a dinner party, do you?"

"Well, kind of," Rory said. The way he asked made her feel like she was admitting to something shameful. "Sookie made a lot of great food. Really, her macaroni and cheese is incredible. And she made pot roast and chicken, in case you didn't like one or the other."

"Gee, how neighborly," Jess said, sliding the window open. He swung one leg out and would have made it all the way out had Rory not grabbed his sleeve. She didn't even consider what she was doing. Apparently her instinct to be polite was so deeply ingrained that it extended to stopping people from climbing out the window at parties.

Jess climbed back inside, looking surprised. "Stay here," Rory said, a bit more firmly. "Grab a soda, get some food. I promise it won't be that bad. My mom is cool and Sookie and Jackson can come on a little strong, but they're both really sweet and worked hard to make the food tonight." She was a little surprised, too. She wasn't the type to order people around. It seemed to work, though. With a shrug, Jess shut the window and even closed the locks on the top.

"How about this," he offered, leaning against her desk. "I'll go out there and get food if you'll go outside to eat with me, away from my uncle and his friends."

Rory considered saying no, but she decided that it was a decent compromise. "Do you not like Luke?" she asked as she and Jess filled up plates with pot roast and macaroni. Jess even added a selection of mixed vegetables, which Rory found commendable but unnecessary. She took an extra scoop of pasta instead.

"I don't even know him," Jess said as they walked out the back door. "I've only seen him a few times." The settled into the chairs at the little table on the porch and Rory focused on her food, suddenly feeling a little self-conscious about sitting in the near dark with a stranger. She wanted to ask him why he was in Stars Hollow if he didn't even really know Luke, but it didn't seem like any of her business. For a minute they ate in silence, enjoying the food. At least, Rory was enjoying the food. She snuck a glance at Jess' face, but it was blank and impassive. He didn't exactly look like he was enjoying himself, but he didn't look like he thought eating with Rory was too painful.

"I told you the food would be good," Rory said a few minutes later, toying with the metal tab on her soda can. "See, this isn't so bad."

Jess didn't say anything. Rory was sensing that he wasn't a huge fan of small talk, which was unfortunate since Rory had absolutely no idea what to talk about. Thankfully, Jess seemed to get that and took pity on her. "Do you go to Stars Hollow High?" he asked. "I'm starting there tomorrow."

Rory nodded. "You're transferring to a new school in the middle of the week?" she asked. That was definitely unusual, especially since they were in the middle of the semester too.

"I think Luke doesn't want me hanging around his apartment," Jess said. "I told him he could just let the school thing go and I'd get a job, but he registered me anyway so tomorrow I will be a Stars Hollow whatever your mascot is."

"'Let the school thing go'?" Rory asked. "What do you mean?" Aside from Dean and Lane, her entirely life basically revolved around school. In addition to her regular classes, Rory was on the yearbook staff, was the junior class president and was in line to be editor-in-chief of the school paper when she was a senior. Just because she couldn't afford a fancy private school didn't mean that she couldn't give public school everything she had. The only problem was, Stars Hollow High didn't take their non-sports activities particularly seriously. There was only one student council meeting a month, and the newspaper only came out three times a semester. If Rory was the type of girl who played sports she would have been all set, but she had to double up on some of the less desirable activities to fill up her schedule.

Jess didn't seem like the type of person who would be clamoring to join extracurricular activities. "It's pointless," Jess said with a shrug. "What am I going to do after high school, go to _college_?" He snorted. "Yeah, right."

Rory was starting to regret eating with Jess. So far, she was absolutely not impressed with him. Ever the optimist, she had thought they might be able to start up a friendship, but she didn't know if she could take someone seriously if they said school was pointless. She didn't see what was so laughable about college, either. She just shook her head. "I'm guessing you're not going to be lobbying to join me on the student council," she said.

"Yeah, right after I join the football team," Jess said sarcastically.

"You know, it's too bad we already had Homecoming because I bet people would have voted you king," Rory remarked. To her surprise, Jess actually cracked a smile. And then he ruined it by pulling a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and lighting one up. Rory wrinkled her nose. "Isn't smoking a little…"

"Unhealthy?" Jess suggested, exhaling a cloud of smoke.

"I was going to say disgusting," she said.

Jess didn't seem bothered by her disapproval. "I'm guessing you don't want one then."

"Not in a million years," Rory said resolutely. She didn't even like getting to close when she sprayed air freshener. "Feel free to contract lung cancer on my porch, though."

"Gee, something tells me that you don't like people who smoke," Jess said, twisting the cigarette between his fingers. "Are you going to send me home without dessert?"

"I just don't like people smoking around me." She knew she sounded testy, but Jess was getting to be a little irritating. Actually, he was just being plain rude. Rory had made her feelings about him smoking around her very clear and yet he kept playing with his cigarette, like it was some sort of game to see how far he could push her. It was not a game Rory wanted to play. "Will you put that thing out?" she asked finally, surprised by how exasperated she sounded. She wasn't usually the type to confront people.

Jess put out the cigarette on the arm of his chair and wiped away the ash. "Better?"

"Yes," Rory said. "Thank you." She didn't feel likes she should have to thank him for common courtesy but she just didn't have it in her to be impolite. "Do you want to go back inside?" she asked. They had both finished her food, and she was shivering a little bit in the crisp breeze. The weather was still fairly nice during the day, but Thanksgiving was only a few weeks away and Rory knew snow was on its way.

"Nope," Jess said, leaning back in his chair and putting a hand behind his head.

Rory hadn't expected him to say no. "So what do you want to do?" she asked, trying to be a good hostess. Lorelai was inside entertaining her friends, so Rory figured she should make sure Jess was having a decent time.

It would have been a lot easier if Jess didn't shrug so much. "Why do we have to do something?" he asked. "What's wrong with just sitting here and staring at our plates?"

"Well, it's cold out, for one," Rory said. "And isn't that that a little boring?"

"You expected this dinner party to be a rager?"

Rory took a deep breath, trying to convince herself that Jess wasn't actually as big a pain in the ass as he seemed on the surface. She couldn't get past how disagreeable he was being, though. The dinner had been a little impromptu, sure, but that didn't mean they hadn't worked hard on it. Rory couldn't stand when people were ungrateful. "My mom and her friends are doing this for you, you know," she said, unable to hold her feelings back. "They thought it would be a nice way to welcome you to the town. And you're just sitting there like you couldn't care less. You didn't want to eat, you don't want to socialize. What the hell do you want? To leave? Because if you want to leave, go ahead. I really don't care." She wasn't usually so blunt and she definitely wasn't in the habit of swearing at people, but Jess was pushing all of her buttons and once and she hated that he seemed to get satisfaction out of it.

Jess got out of his chair, and Rory thought for a second that he was actually going to leave. Just as she was thinking it wouldn't be such a loss to the evening, he bent and kissed her on the lips. It happened so quickly she wasn't positive she hadn't imagined it until Jess pulled away with a satisfied half-smile on his face. Her lips tasted like cigarette smoke. "I wanted that," Jess said, walking inside.

Rory followed him with her empty plate, feeling frazzled. On the one hand, Jess kissing out of nowhere had been incredibly disrespectful. He was kind of a jerk, and she never would have kissed him of her own volition, even if she didn't have a boyfriend. She did have a boyfriend though, and now she felt like she was going to have to explain what happened to Dean. Rory knew she would feel guilty forever if she didn't. She also knew that it would probably cause a fight between the two of them, and she hated fighting Dean.

But on the other hand. On the other hand, Jess' kiss had been a little bit exciting. She was so used to structure and stability in her life, and a stranger kissing her out of nowhere had kind of rocked her world. She had gone through her whole day thinking everything was normal and now she felt different in a way she couldn't put her finger on. She was a friendly girl, but she wasn't the most outgoing person ever and people often overlooked her. Dean had been kind of an anomaly there. But Jess had been interested enough in her to kiss her. It made her feel like she could actually _be _interesting.

When she went into the living room, she kept her distance from Jess. She sat by her mom on the couch and quietly sipped her soda, only talking when someone asked her a question. Lorelai gave her a curious look, but Rory brushed her off. With any luck, her mom would just think she was tired. When Sookie announced that she was going to clean up the kitchen Rory jumped up to help, even though she'd already had enough cleaning for the day. That probably wasn't the right way to throw her mom off, but just sitting in the same room as Jess made her a little nervous. She had very studiously avoided eye contact with him, but every now and then she could feel him looking at her.

"The food was really good, Sookie," Rory said, putting a bowl of leftover macaroni and cheese in the fridge. "It was really nice of you to cook tonight."

"I've got to feed my girls!" Sookie said, poking Rory in the side with a roll of plastic wrap. "What was Luke's nephew like?" she asked in a lower voice. "I saw you two go outside to eat."

"I think Jess was just overwhelmed meeting everyone," Rory said, even though he hadn't exactly been tossed into a big gathering. "I don't think he's big on social things." Or school, or being polite, or respecting people's personal space.

Sookie frowned as she wrapped up the leftover pot roast. "That's too bad," she said, sounding truly bothered by it. "I'll make sure I give him and Luke some of the leftovers."

Rory smiled. "That would be nice," she said. After she threw away the disposable plates they had used for dinner, she checked her watch. It was already after 8pm, and she usually called Dean around 9pm or so. "How late are you staying?" she asked Sookie. Knowing Luke, he would probably call it a night as soon as Sookie and Jackson left. He wasn't much for excessive lingering. Jess must have taken after Luke's side of the family.

"I've got to get going soon," Sookie said apologetically. "I have to be at the inn early tomorrow to sign for a shipment of vegetables. And Jackson has to be at the inn early to drop off the shipment of vegetables." She laughed. "Hey, that works out well!"

Rory wondered if people thought she and Dean were as cute as she thought Sookie and Jackson were. Lane always said they were a great couple, but Lane didn't really know that many couples she could compare them to. All she really wanted to do was curl up on her bed and talk to Dean, but she didn't feel like she could just disappear when people were still there. She decided to start doing some of the dishes instead, figuring it would kill some time.

By the time she got down to cleaning the last of the silverware, she heard Sookie and Jackson saying their goodbyes in the living room. "Bye!" she called, walking to the doorway to wave at them. She noticed Luke and Jess weren't in the room. "Did they leave already?" she asked her mom.

"Luke's in the bathroom," Lorelai said, grabbing a handful of M&Ms out of the bowl she had put on the coffee table. "I think Jess might have gone outside already." She rolled her eyes and dropped her voice down. "I didn't think there was anyone out there less chatty than Luke."

"Well if they're leaving, I'm going to go call Dean," Rory said. She headed to her bedroom and almost screamed when she saw Jess looking at her bookshelf. "Jesus, why are you in my room?" she asked, momentarily forgetting that she wasn't interacting with him since the kiss.

Jess leaned against the doorjamb. "Nothing," he said. "Just seeing what kind of books you have."

"There's a lot of different kinds," Rory said irritably. "I don't remember inviting you into my room."

"Nobody said it was off limits."

Rory rolled her eyes. "That's really nice. Is that why you kissed me, too? Because I didn't say that you couldn't?"

Jess just looked at her in a way he probably though was attractive, but in reality just kind of made him look ridiculous. Rory thought he seemed like the type of guy who prided himself on being mysterious and alluring, but Rory would've said he missed his mark. He gave a little wave and walked out of the room, and Rory immediately shut the door behind him. Trying to put the evening behind her, she dialed Dean's number.

"How was your dinner?" he asked immediately.

"Hi to you too," Rory said, trying to sound cheerful. She really didn't want to talk about the dinner, but of course Dean wanted to. "Dinner was okay."

"Was Luke's nephew annoying?"

Rory was about to say that he was a complete pain when she remembered that Dean had assumed Jess was a little kid. For some reason, she didn't want to correct him. It seemed like too much to explain. He would figure things out when he saw him at school tomorrow. "No, it was fine," Rory said blandly. All of a sudden, she just felt exhausted. Jess' kiss was still on her mind and she didn't want to tell Dean about it, but she didn't want to keep things from him, either. She decided telling him about it the next day would be the best option, when she could see him in person. "I think I'm going to go to bed a little early," Rory said, trying for a convincing yawn. "Sorry. I'll see you tomorrow morning, okay?"

Dean paused for a second. Rory expected him to complain, but he just sighed. "Yeah, sure. I'll see you tomorrow morning." Even though he always made a point to tell her he loved her, he just hung up.

Rory flopped back against her pillows, wondering how on earth Dean had gotten irritated with her over a two minute phone call. She hadn't even told him what had happened at dinner yet. Her bedroom light was still, but she pulled the blanket over her and closed her eyes anyway. It had been a long day.


	3. I Thought I Had Some Kind Of Control

When Rory walked up to school the next morning Dean was waiting on the steps for her, holding two cups of coffee. "Thank you," she said, surprised. Dean often brought her coffee or little snacks before school, but it had dropped fifteen degrees overnight and most of the students had gone right inside instead of lingering on the lawn.

"I just felt bad that we didn't get a chance to talk last night," Dean explained. Rory's coffee suddenly tasted extra bitter. She had begged off on their phone call last night because she was too nervous to explain what had happened during dinner, and here Dean was the one feeling bad about it. She swallowed her mouthful of coffee and smiled at him, though it felt a little forced through the guilt that she felt. Dean was literally the best boyfriend in the entire world, and she had no idea how she was going to tell him that someone else had kissed her. There were only a few minutes until school started and Rory was wondering if she should just blurt everything out when Dean nudged her arm. "Hey, who's that?"

Jess was walking toward the school from Luke's, looking like he'd rather be doing anything else. He had swapped out his jacket from the night before for a black leather one and he glowered at the ground when he walked. He didn't even have a backpack with him. "That's Luke's nephew," Rory said, trying to keep her voice light. "His name is Jess."

Dean scowled. "_That's_ Luke's nephew? The _kid_ who was over at your house for dinner last night?" He had gone from being sweet to slightly accusatory, like it was somehow Rory's fault that Jess had been at her house. Rory hadn't invited him over, and she hadn't lied to Dean about anything. She hadn't known anything about Jess until she showed up at her house. Dean made it seem like it was somehow her fault that Jess was a high school student instead of a little kid. "He looks like trouble, Rory."

"I really don't know anything about him," she said with a shrug. "He and Luke weren't over very long last night. We just ate dinner and they left." That was approaching a lie, at least by omission. Rory was not the type of girl who lied to her boyfriend, but it was obvious Dean had already decided he didn't like Jess and expanding upon her story would just make Dean upset.

The warning bell rang and Dean turned on his heel and stalked into the school. Rory was about to follow him, but knocked over her cup of coffee when she went to stand up. "Shoot," she said, scrambling away from the spill. Not only was there coffee splattered on her jeans, but she had probably missed her chance to catch up with Dean. Their lockers were on opposite sides of the hall and Rory wouldn't have time to stop by her locker and run to Dean's before heading back in the opposite direction to her English class. She let out a frustrated sigh and heaved her backpack over her shoulder, not happy that she wouldn't get a chance to talk with Dean until the last class of the day.

"Not a morning person?" Rory spun around and was face to face with Jess, who seemed to find her predicament amusing. He nodded at the coffee stain on her jeans. "I think you're supposed to drink it," he said. "Personally, I'd use water if I was trying to wash my jeans."

"Shut up," Rory muttered.

Jess seemed surprised. "I thought small towns were supposed to be friendly," he said. "And didn't you say you're on student council? I thought you'd be all over showing me around. It sure would be embarrassing if I was late to my history class."

"It's not a big school," she said, walking inside with Jess on her heels. Suddenly, she stopped. Jess stepped on the back of her heel, but she barely noticed. "Wait, did you say history?" All juniors took the same history class and though Jess hadn't mentioned it himself, Luke had said he was a junior. So was Dean, and Dean had history first period.

Jess nodded. "Do you have history too? We could be study buddies. I think Luke would like that." He had a mischievous look in his eyes, which Rory didn't love. She couldn't deal with an angry boyfriend and a new guy who seemed incapable of taking anything seriously.

Rory shook her head. "Never mind," she said. "I don't have history."

"Ohh," Jess said, brightening in recognition. "I bet that guy you were sitting outside with does. Funny, you never mentioned having a boyfriend last night."

"Because it's none of your business," she said, finally reaching her locker. She spun the dial too quickly and overshot the second number and had to start over. "Now will you go away? You're distracting me and I only have a couple of minutes to get to class."

"Don't worry about me," Jess said. "I don't know where my class is but I bet I can just follow your boyfriend. He's very tall. Easy to pick out of a crowd." He gave Rory one last look before he walked away. If he had hung around a second longer Rory probably would've tossed her copy of The Scarlet Letter at his head. What had she done to receive the misfortune of being the only person at the school Jess knew? Rory hoped that they had different lunch periods, because she had a feeling Jess would plop himself down at her table and start talking away like they were old friends. Rory wondered if he had moved to Stars Hollow because everyone in New York had just gotten annoyed with him and made him leave.

Rory made it through English and study hall without seeing Jess, and he didn't seem to be in her pre-calculus class, either. "Have you seen the new guy?" Lane asked. "He was in my English class last period and spent the entire time reading a book that we're not even reading for class. The teacher asked him to introduce himself and he just said no." She spoke in hushed tones, like she was afraid she would get in trouble for talking about Jess. In a school filled with people that generally followed the rules and did the work, Jess was definitely going to make some sort of name for himself.

"That's Luke's nephew," Rory said. "I met him last night. It was completely ridiculous." Noticing her teacher was looking in her direction, she discreetly pulled out a loose leaf sheet of paper. _He and Luke had dinner at our house last night_, she scribbled. _Major disaster._

Lane looked at her with wide eyes and tossed the paper back to her once the teacher turned toward the board. _What happened?_

Rory debated not telling her, but if she couldn't tell Lane, who could she tell? Lane was her best friend in the world and she knew Lane would never judge her getting kissed by Jess. Dean was obviously too close to the situation to handle the story in a calm way, but Rory knew she could count on Lane to be supportive—and keep the story quiet. _Long story short, he kissed me_, Rory wrote. _But I did NOT kiss him!_

When the note landed on Lane's desk she gasped, then quickly covered it with a cough. _What is with the new guys kissing you?_

She almost laughed. Stars Hollow High didn't get new students often, but Rory did seem to attract them. She was like some very bizarre Welcome Wagon. _No idea_. _I haven't had a chance to tell Dean about it yet, but he saw Jess earlier and already hates him because I met him already. _She rolled her eyes. It sounded so ridiculous when she wrote it out. The day was giving her a headache. All she wanted to do was find Dean and tell him that absolutely none of this was her fault and he was being dumb, but that would require a level of assertiveness that Rory didn't think she was capable of.

_Don't tell him_, Lane wrote back. She gave a little shrug when Rory read it and grabbed the paper off her desk before Rory could respond. _It's just going to make him mad, right? And it's not like you kissed him back._

True, Rory hadn't kissed him back, but she also hadn't disliked the kiss. She should have been absolutely disgusted by it. She should have hated him. But when she saw him walking toward the school that morning, she had felt the smallest flicker of excitement. There was no one in Stars Hollow like Jess and he was interesting. Rude and slightly antagonistic, yes, but also interesting. Rory couldn't picture herself actually being friends with him, but she didn't feel like she could ignore him. Even when he had been annoying her that morning, she felt compelled to engage him. Something about him was magnetic. Rory felt like she had to stand her ground with him, even though she knew he would just push back.

Rory read Lane's note several times, trying to convince herself that Lane was right. She hadn't kissed Jess. He had kissed her, completely unprovoked, and all of this mess was on him. If anyone had to explain things to Dean, it should have been Jess. Rory wasn't naïve enough to think that would ever happen, but she decided that was the stance she was going to take on this situation. It was officially no longer her problem. When the bell rang, she left class with renewed energy. She felt much better now that Lane had backed her up on whether or not she should tell Dean about what had happened. After school she would apologize for not telling Dean that Jess was going to be one of their classmates. Hopefully, everything would blow over.

The one small snag in her plan arose during her last class of the day. She gave Dean a smile as she sat down in chemistry and after a beat he returned it tentatively. Just when she thought things might be okay after all, someone sat down in the empty desk at the end of their row. "You've got to be kidding me," Dean grumbled. "He's already in my history class and my lunch period. Now he's in this class too?"

"The junior class isn't exactly big," Rory pointed out, doing her best not to turn around and look at Jess. "And our chemistry class is the smallest one."

"Who cares?" Dean said. "I'm sick of seeing that guy."

"He's been here one day, and you don't even know him," Rory said, wondering if Jess could hear them talking about her. He would probably get some sort of perverse satisfaction out of it if he could, Rory thought. "You were new here last year too, you know."

Dean looked at her uncomprehendingly. "So? I wasn't a jerk. And you don't even know him either, right? I don't know why you're defending him."

"I'm not defending him," Rory said quietly, even though she kind of was. "I just don't want to make problems. Luke seemed like he really wanted this to work out last night at dinner and he's always been so great to me and my mom. You know how this town is. If everyone decides they hate Jess, they're going to take it out on Luke." Rory was trying to take the conversation away from Jess, but what she was saying was also unfortunately true. When she and Jess had gone back inside the night before Sookie and Jackson kept looking between Jess and Luke. Every time Jess grudgingly answered a question or didn't say anything at all they had immediately turned their attention to Luke, like they were expecting him to take care of things.

Dean didn't exactly look convinced, but he didn't push the issue any further. "It's not like I'm going to say anything to Jess," Dean said. "That would mean actually talking to him."

"Be nice," Rory said as the teacher turned on the overhead projector, a sign that they were about to get instructions for a lab. The students started shifting around in their seats, getting their things ready to go to the lab area.

"No lab yet, guys," Mr. Chambers said. "We're going to talk about your mid-term project first." The class groaned, and the teacher held up his hand. "Before you complain, you might be interested to know that this project will replace your mid-term exam this semester." That did the trick. Projects weren't exactly fun, but no one liked taking mid-terms. "Your project will be due the day before winter break starts, so you'll have plenty of time to work on it. But be warned, there is a lot of work involved."

Rory skimmed over the assignment sheet once they were passed around the room. The assignment actually seemed pretty simple. With their lab partner, they would have to find and observe a chemical reaction and then research it. Considering basically everything was a chemical reaction, Rory wasn't even sure why this was their big final project for the semester. "This will be easy," she whispered to Dean. He nodded, though he looked uncertain. Chemistry wasn't his best class and after their test the day before, Rory knew he wasn't excited about jumping into a big project.

As the class wandered over to the lab area to meet with their project partners and start the assignment for the day, Mr. Chambers called Rory up to his desk. "We have a new student, and I think you should be his lab partner," he said quietly.

"But what about Dean?" she asked. Dean being her lab partner was the best thing about chemistry, and she knew he would not be happy about their partnership being broken up.

"He can work with MacKenzie. She's in a group of three." Mr. Chambers looked over at Dean, who was waiting for Rory at their station. "Look, I probably shouldn't be telling you this, but you've had the best grades in the class all semester. Jess wasn't in a chemistry class at his old school, so he could probably use the help."

Rory felt a glimmer of pride upon finding out that she was the best in the class, but that didn't do much to mitigate the uncertainty she felt about being Jess' lab partner. She was hardly in the position to argue with her teacher, though. "Okay," she said, trying not to sound too negatively about the idea.

"Great," Mr. Chambers said enthusiastically. "I know you'll be a great help. Jess!" he called. Unlike the other students, Jess was still sitting at his desk, flipping through a book. He didn't even have a notebook or anything. "You'll be working with Rory for the rest of the year. Dean, you'll be joining MacKenzie."

Dean's face hardened as Rory walked over to collect her things from their station. "Seriously?" he said. "What am I supposed to do about this project now? I got a C- on that test yesterday. I have no idea what I'm doing in here."

"It wasn't my idea," Rory said, grabbing his hand. "Look, I can still help you with this project. I'm sure there are plenty of individual components. I'll make sure you get an A on it."

Dean laughed mirthlessly. "That would be a miracle," he said, walking to the back of the room to join his new lab partner. Jess took Dean's vacated space, looking a little too satisfied with how the arrangement had worked out.

"We get to be study buddies after all," he said, pointing at the project sheet. "Look, it's going to require a lot of work outside of class. That could be fun."

"Let's just talk about the assignment we actually have to do today, okay?" Rory said, putting on her safety glasses. "We're supposed to record what happens when we mix these two chemicals together."

Jess yawned. "Fascinating. So was Prince Charming mad when he had to get a new lab partner?"

"I do not want to talk about Dean right now," Rory said, focusing on measuring out the perfect amount of the first chemical. Once she was satisfied she had gotten the amount right she dumped it into the beaker. "Do you want to measure 30 milliliters of the other chemical?"

"Nope," Jess said, making no move to take the graduated cylinder she was holding out to him. "Why don't you want to talk about Dean? Trouble in paradise? You should have invited him to dinner last night," he said. "That would have been fun."

Rory frowned as she measured out the second liquid. "I'm going to make Mr. Chambers tell you to work with MacKenzie," she said. "We're not here to talk about my personal life."

"Maybe you're not, but I find it a lot more interesting than chemistry."

"It's not. It's very boring," Rory said flatly. "Can you at least take notes on this or something?" As she mixed the two chemicals together the solution turned green and started foaming. "I'm going to make a note on the worksheet that said you did absolutely nothing."

Jess didn't seem bothered. "You want to get coffee after school? I technically work at Luke's now so I can get us a discount."

"I am not having coffee with you," Rory said. "I'm going over to Dean's. My boyfriend's," she said pointedly.

He shrugged. "Well, if you ever want a free cup of coffee, you know where to find me," Jess said.

"I'd rather pay the dollar," Rory said. Jess raised an eyebrow, but Rory just continued filling out the worksheet for their assignment. She was not going to let Jess get to her. At least… not any more than he already had.


	4. I Know I'm Not Getting It Back

"What should we do today?" Rory asked Dean as they walked out of school. He still looked miffed, but Rory wasn't going to let him be in a mood forever. She did her best to sound happy and upbeat, pretending chemistry hadn't actually been a huge disaster. "I don't have that much homework," she continued. "We could go get some ice cream."

"It's 40 degrees out," Dean said. "Why don't we just go to Luke's?"

"Luke's?" Rory said uncertainly, looking across the street at the diner. Mercifully, Jess had left her alone after class and she hadn't seen where he went after the bell rang. He had said he was working at Luke's, so was he there now? "What about Weston's?"

Dean had already started walking toward Luke's. "Come on, I'm starving," he said. "And my mom has a double shift, so I'm in charge of getting Clara dinner tonight. I can eat now and take something home for her." When Rory was slow to follow him, he frowned. "What's wrong? I know for a fact you love Luke's."

Rory did love Luke's, but she also loved having a simple and uncomplicated relationship. Judging by how Dean had reacted when Jess walked into chemistry, he probably wouldn't be too happy if he was the one serving their burgers. "Well, Jess works at Luke's," she said. "You didn't seem like his biggest fan earlier."

"He was acting like a jerk in class, but what do I care if he's serving our food?" Dean said with a shrug. "Worst case scenario, I don't leave a tip."

Rory stared at him. "An hour ago you said you were sick of seeing him," she said. "I don't understand." After being made to switch partners so that Jess could work with Rory, she had thought Dean would be feeling extra negatively toward Jess. It made absolutely no sense that his animosity toward him would just disappear when school let out.

"I was having a bad day, okay?" Dean said. "Now I'm hungry, and I want some good food."

Rory wasn't sure what to say to that, so they walked the rest of the way to Luke's in silence. As far as Rory could tell through the windows, Jess wasn't there. She felt a little bit more relaxed as they walked inside. She was hungry too, and a snack wasn't a bad idea. "Hey, Luke," she said when he walked over to their table. "Can we get some chili cheese fries?"

"And a cheeseburger," Dean added.

"Yeah, sure," Luke said, scribbling it on his notepad. He kept looking out the window and seemed preoccupied. "Hey, have you seen Jess around?" he asked Rory. "He was supposed to come back right after school. Caesar called in sick today so I've been swamped."

"I haven't seen him since class," Rory said apologetically. "I'm sure he's just talking to one of his teachers or something."

Dean gave a little laugh. "Yeah, I'm sure that's it," he said. Rory kicked him under the table.

"Alright," Luke said with a sigh. "Well if you see him walk by and he doesn't look like he's coming inside yell at him for me, will you?"

"Sure," Rory said. Once Luke went back to the kitchen, Dean gave her a look.

"What was that?" he asked. "All you did was eat dinner in the same house with the guy last night and Luke's asking you to track him down for him? Does he think you're friends or something?"  
>Rory brushed a fleck of pepper off the table. "I doubt it. He just knows that Jess and I have met already."<p>

Dean didn't seem to believe her. "And he thinks that for some reason Jess is actually going to listen to you if you tell him to go to work?"

"I have no idea what he thinks. I'm not a mind-reader," Rory said. Not liking how Dean was gaping at her she got up and walked to the counter. Since Luke was busy in the kitchen, she slid behind the counter and grabbed the coffee pot herself. "Luke, I'm getting coffee!" she said, taking a mug down off the shelf.

Instead of Luke yelling at her, someone else spoke up. "You work here?" Jess asked, walking behind the counter.

"Just for myself," Rory said, replacing the coffee pot. "Luke was busy in the kitchen. Someone was late coming into work," she added pointedly.

"School ended fifteen minutes ago," Jess said. "I know you can't be talking about me."

Luke leaned out of the kitchen holding a burger. "Good, you're here," he said to Jess. "Take this to Dean at the table by the window." He did a double take when he saw Rory. "What are you doing back here?"

"Following in my mother's footsteps," Rory said, holding up her cup of coffee. When Luke scowled she gave a meek shrug. "I didn't want to interrupt you." Luke shook his head, but ducked pack into the kitchen. Rory smiled as she followed Jess back to her table, a little proud that she had gotten away with going behind the counter.

Jess set the cheeseburger in front of Dean with a flourish. "Luke made it extra special, just for you," he said with a ridiculously fake smile.

"Jess, don't be an ass," Luke called from the kitchen. Dean smirked.

Jess held his hands up in surrender as he headed back to the counter. "Hey, I'm just trying to provide excellent customer service," he said, pouring himself a soda. "Am I still needed here?"

"Yes," Luke said, plating up Rory's chili fries. "Give Rory her fries and then go wipe tables down."

"You got it, boss," Jess said, saluting him. He handed Rory her fries, giving her a little wink before he turned around and headed upstairs.

Rory focused on her fries, mixing them up with her fork to distribute the chili and cheese. She thought maybe Dean hadn't noticed the wink and it would just go away if she pretended it hadn't happened, but Wednesday wasn't her lucky day that week.

"Why did Jess wink at you?" Dean asked, poking a hole in his bun. He didn't look very hungry anymore.

Rory continued playing with her fries. "I have no idea," she said. "Maybe he's just trying to wind Luke up."

"Trying to wind Luke up, or trying to wind me up?" Dean asked.

She just took a bite of her fries. "He doesn't even know you, right?" she said. "I don't think this is about you. He probably just doesn't want to be at work."

"He knows you," Dean pointed out. "And I'm starting to think he knows you better than you said earlier."

What did Dean mean by that? As far as he knew, they had eaten dinner in a group and she happened to have a class with Jess. "Well, he doesn't," she said simply.

Dean sighed, picking at his burger. "I saw him talking to you before school today," he admitted. "I'm just trying to figure out what's going on. He's a jerk to me, he winks at you… Did something happen last night? Like, did he hit on you or something? He's only been here a day and he keeps popping up around you. And I was watching you in chemistry," he continued. "You looked uncomfortable around him."

"Chemistry was fine," Rory said with a shrug. "He just wasn't being very helpful. He's never taken chemistry before. Honestly, he doesn't bother me that much. He was just talking to me this morning because I was the only person there that he knew. Nothing happened at dinner last night."

She was lying, and she hated it. Earlier when she had decided not to tell Dean about the kiss, she'd contented herself with the knowledge that she was simply omitting a piece of information. Now Dean had deliberately asked her if something had happened, and she said no. That was a straight-up lie. And while she had no proof that Jess had approached her that morning for any reason other than then already being acquainted, she suspected that he'd had an ulterior motive, which added to the feeling of lying. She had never lied to Dean before, and now she was spinning a very big lie.

Dean still looked concerned. "You'll let me know if he's bothering you, right?" His tone made Rory feel even worse about lying. He was just looking out for her.

"Absolutely," Rory said, reaching across the table to hold his hand briefly. "I think he'll probably leave me alone now. He's seen me with you and knows I have a boyfriend, so if he had any weird ideas about me I'm sure they're gone now. I would just ignore him in class if I were you."

"That shouldn't be hard," Dean said. "He was in my history class and my study hall and in both classes he just sat in the back and didn't do anything at all. I think he actually fell asleep in study hall."

Technically, most people fell asleep in study hall. Rory was a little surprised to find out that Jess actually meant everything he had said about school the night before, though. It was one thing to talk about not liking school and it being pointless, but it was another to go to school and not do anything at all. He wouldn't last very long if he didn't make an effort. "Looks like I'm going to be doing this chemistry project by myself," Rory said ruefully, taking a sip of her coffee. Her chemistry project was the last thing on her mind, but she wanted to steer the conversation in any direction besides Jess.

"And you'll still do better on it than MacKenzie and I will," Dean said. As he finished off his burger, his pager beeped. "That's my sister," he said. "The elementary school had a half day and she went to her friend's after school. I've got to go pick her up." He stood up, the remembered something. "I was supposed to order her something for dinner. Her friend just lives a couple of blocks away. Will you order a cheeseburger and fries for me? Tell Luke I'll pick it up on the way back."

"Sure," Rory agreed, giving him a quick kiss on his way out. "I'm still working on these fries, anyway."

Almost as soon as Dean had walked past the diner, Jess appeared from upstairs. Rory wondered if he had been standing at the top of the stairs, waiting for Dean to leave. "You need a refill?" he asked Rory.

"There are other people in the diner you could be bothering, you know," Rory said. "But if you're actually here to work, I need a cheeseburger and fries to go. Dean's going to pay for it when he gets back."

"How nice of him," Jess simpered. "Didn't he notice you're already eating fries?"

"It's for his sister," Rory said. "He went to pick her up from a friend's and in a few minutes he'll be back to pick up his food." It wasn't any of his business, but it served as a warning. Just because Dean was gone didn't mean that Jess could flirt with her or try to kiss her again.

Jess was the picture of wide-eyed innocence. "Hey, I'm just doing my job," he said. "I'll be right back with your coffee."

"I didn't order more coffee," she said, but Jess had already walked back to the kitchen. Even from her seat Rory could see the look of surprise on Luke's face when he realized Jess had gone back to actually put in an order. She could only hope Jess had actually told Luke to make what she asked for and not something ridiculous just to spite Dean.

Rory finished her cup of coffee just as Jess walked up to her table with the coffee pot. "Fine, I guess you can fill it up," she said. She had to wait for Dean to get back anyway, so she might as well drink coffee while she waited. Jess filled up her cup and nodded before walking to another table to give them refills. Rory wondered if it was possible he did have some sort of work ethic, even if it didn't extend to school. Then again, Luke was keeping an eye on him from the kitchen.

She was still picking at her fries when Jess dropped off a bag of takeout at her table, along with a plate of fresh fries. "I thought you might want some new fries," Jess said. "Those ones looked a little gross." Rory looked down at her plate of fries, which were covered in slightly congealed cheese. They did look gross.

"I didn't order fries," she argued.

Jess waved away her complaint. "They're on the house," he said. "I told Luke Dean ordered a double batch."

"Jess!"

He gave her a little smile. "I was kidding. Dean was only charged for the food that he ordered, and I didn't even add a mandatory tip."

"Tips are not mandatory," Rory said. "I have a feeling you'll learn that very quickly."

Jess was about to retort, but glanced out the window instead. "Oops," he said, walking to another table as Dean and Clara walked in.

"Luke just finished your food so it's nice and fresh," Rory said, handing Clara the bag as Dean went to pay.

"Is he your friend?" Clara asked, looking at Jess. She looked a little wary.

"He just works here," Rory told her. "He's Luke's nephew."

Clara wrinkled her nose. "His hair looks stupid," she said, staring at Jess' wavy gelled hair.

Rory laughed as Dean walked over to them. "I'll see you tomorrow," he said, kissing her. "And I'll talk to you later?"

She nodded, vowing to have an extra-long phone call to make up for the night before. Rory had barely had time to put ketchup on her new fries when Jess was back at her table. This time, he sat down at the table. "We should talk about our chemistry project, don't you think?" he said. "I don't know about you, but I've been worrying about it all afternoon."

"It's not due for five weeks," Rory said, frowning as Jess took a fry off her plate. "Did I say you could share my fries?"

"Hey, the fries were a gift," Jess said. "Technically, you owe me some. And I'm just worried that if we don't plan out our chemistry project now I'm going to be so preoccupied that I won't be able to work."

Rory pushed the plate of fries toward him. "Have them, then. And I didn't peg you as the type to be worried about a school project."

Jess grabbed a handful of fries. "Hey, I don't want to let my partner down," he said. "I don't know anything about chemistry, but teamwork is very important to me."

"If I do all the work and put your name on the paper, will you leave me alone?" she asked, taking a fry in spite of herself. She didn't want to accept Jess' "gift", but Luke made really good fries and they had the perfect amount of salt on them.

"You don't like me," Jess observed. "You just met me yesterday, but you already don't like me. I think one day is a record."

"That's not true," Rory said. "I didn't like you last night, either. I bet a day isn't a record, but a few hours might be."

Jess shook his head. "Any particular reason you don't like me?"

Rory stared at him with pursed lips. "Seriously?"

"Is it because I said I didn't like school?" Jess asked, not letting her off the hook that easily.

"No," Rory said, looking around. "It's because you kissed me," she added in a whisper. "I have a boyfriend."

Jess pointed at her like he had some sort of point. "Technically, I didn't know that at the time."

Rory pointed right back. "_Technically_, you never asked me if you could kiss me. And the general mood didn't really indicate that I wanted you to. Me not mentioning Dean was not an invitation to kiss me." She sighed and took a sip of her coffee. "Why did you do that anyway?" she asked. It seemed like as good a time as any to ask, and she was genuinely curious. "Did you honestly think I would like that?"  
>He shrugged. "I just wanted to," he said, like that was a perfectly acceptable reason to go around kissing strangers.<p>

"If I was the type of person who was into sports or working out, I would've kicked your ass," Rory said seriously. The problem was, she was so far the type that it was impossible to actually take her seriously. It sounded ridiculous even as she said it.

Jess smirked. "I think I'd like to see that."

"Don't try to flirt with me. I'm not flirting with you!" Rory complained. "I don't even like you as a friend."

"You don't like me as a friend, but we are friends," Jess clarified. Rory shook her head.

"I do not like you as a friend because we are not friends," she said. "We are, unfortunately, lab partners, but that's all. And hopefully we switch lab partners after this semester."

Jess looked at the last fry on the plate for a second and then took it. "I was going to let you have the last fry, but you hurt my feelings."

Rory stood up and tossed a few bucks on the table to cover her coffee. "That's not a tip," she warned him, waving to Luke as she left. Once she was outside, she let out a deep breath. "Shit," she whispered to herself. She might not have liked Jess as a friend, but the little crooked smile on his face when he'd brought her the fries had kind of made her want him to kiss her again.


	5. Heart And Soul And All That

A/N: The working title of this was "Nobody Likes Us At This Party", but I figured there weren't enough parties in the story for that. I bet Dean wouldn't like them though, party or not. Poor guy.

* * *

><p>Rory managed to put off thinking about her chemistry project until Monday, but it made her feel twitchy. They had over a month to work on it, but she hated leaving things until the last minute. She was the type of student who did their homework immediately after school on Friday so that it wasn't hovering over her all weekend. If it wasn't a paired project she would have laid out a game plan already, but she had Jess to deal with. For the last few days, she'd been doing her best to avoid him.<p>

Since they typically only did lab work in chemistry a couple of times a week, Rory hadn't had to work with Jess in class since Wednesday. To avoid him before school she had followed Dean to his locker on Thursday and Friday and slid into her English class at the last possible second, just so she wouldn't run into him in the hall. If she saw him walking outside one of her classes she lingered, taking her time to pack up her things so she would miss him. She felt like some sort of reverse stalker, keeping an eye on Jess from afar just so she wouldn't have to be near him. After their strange moment at the diner the other day, she wasn't taking any chances.

Instead, she threw all her energy into being a good girlfriend. Thursday after school she and Dean stocked up on candy from Doose's and spent the evening in the library, where she helped him with an essay he was writing for his English class. On Friday they went to a double feature at the Black, White and Read theater, stuffing themselves with slightly stale popcorn while they watched old Woody Allen films. She even got up early on Saturday morning to go to a pick-up softball game he was playing in, despite the fact that she had to bundle up in a scarf and even her best travel mug couldn't keep her coffee warm. If Dean thought her run for the Best Girlfriend Ever award was unusual, he didn't say anything about it. By the time Sunday rolled around, she was actually a little bit exhausted but invited Dean over to watch a movie with her and Lorelai anyway, because keeping busy was the best way to avoid problems.

Monday arrived much too quickly, and it brought lab work with it. Once again, Jess was sitting at their lab station with no school supplies other than a pen, which he was using to make notes in the novel he was reading.

"I had no idea our chemistry book was that fascinating," Rory said sarcastically, pulling out things to set up for their experiment.

"I wouldn't know," Jess said absently, writing a page number on his hand. He shut the book and slid it toward Rory. "I think you'd like our chemistry book better, though. Take a look."

Rory glanced at the cover, surprised to see that it was a book she'd actually read before. "You're reading Please Kill Me? I loved this book."

It was Jess' turn to look surprised. "I didn't peg you as a girl who would like punk music."

She shrugged. "I don't love all of it, but the book was really interesting. Have you read Rip It Up And Start Again?" she asked. "It was about the post-punk movement in the late 70's and 80's." She had a pretty diverse taste in music and while bands like Joy Division and Talking Heads weren't her favorite, it was interesting to read about the rise of an entirely new type of music. Unless it was country, of course.

Jess shook his head. "I'll have to look for it," he said. "You really liked the book?"

"Yup," Rory said, handing him a pair of goggles. "Now do some science, will you?"

He snorted. "'Do science'? I thought you were supposed to be like a chemistry genius. Isn't that why Chambers stuck you with me?"

"I don't really like chemistry all that much," she admitted. "But it's not too hard if you just put the work in. Like this project we've got coming up," she said pointedly. "If we start it soon it'll be a lot easier than waiting until the week before it's due."

"You just said it wasn't due for weeks the other day," Jess said, setting a cylinder inside a beaker.

Rory rolled her eyes and pulled the cylinder out. "Be useful and fill this with water," she said. "And yes, it's not due for weeks, but I like to have things done early."

"So when you didn't want to talk about the project the other day, you just wanted me to go away," Jess guessed.

"If you're that smart when it comes to chemistry we'll have this project done in no time."

Jess handed her the cylinder of water. "So how about we work on it tonight?" he suggested. "We can work on it at the diner. I have to work, but we can get started after close."

Rory shook her head. "Let's just meet at the library," she said. She wasn't sure she trusted Jess on his home turf.

"_Or,_ we can work at the diner," Jess said. "Or we can just meet somewhere else when I don't have to work, but I always have to work. So it's up to you."

She sighed. "I will be at the diner at 8," she relented. Working alone with Jess at the diner after-hours? Now why did that sound like a bad idea?

"I need some pie," Jess announced, getting up from the table for the sixth time. Rory had been at the diner for less than an hour and Jess had already "needed" coffee, a sandwich, more coffee and a better CD to play while they worked. He also took the opportunity to refill Rory's coffee cup when it was running low, running behind the counter instead of just leaving the pot on the table. "Do you want some pie?"

"I want you to sit down and help me with this project," Rory said, looking over the rubric. "You know, we're getting the same grade on this project and I don't want to lose participation points because you were too busy making coffee to do anything related to class."

Jess snapped his fingers, plating up two pieces of pie. "Coffee," he announced, like it was some grand revelation.

"I have enough coffee, and so do you," Rory said.

"We can do our project about coffee," Jess said. "Water turning into coffee? That's gotta be a chemical reaction."

Rory shook her head. "That's a physical change," she said. "The coffee is just extracted into the water. It doesn't change the chemical composition of the water."

He shrugged. "So we just set something on fire then," he said easily. "That's a chemical change, right?"

"I'm not committing arson," Rory warned. "Even if it is for a school project." She sighed and tossed her pen down on the table. "This shouldn't be that difficult," she said. "All we have to do is come up with some kind of chemical change that we can cause and record everything that happens. Like, striking a match."

"Or we could build a baking soda volcano," Jess said sarcastically.

"Hey, you can't criticize my ideas when you don't come up with any of your own," Rory argued.

Jess was concentrating on digging all of the filling out of his peach pie. "I suggested we set something on fire and you didn't seem into it," he said. "Is making pie a chemical change?"

"I have no idea," Rory admitted. "I guess baking involved chemical reactions if you're using baking soda, but I've never made a pie before so I wouldn't really know."

"So we bake a cake," Jess suggested. "We can write all about how the ingredients turn into cake, and then we can eat cake." He pushed his coffee cup away and stood up again. "Now that we've got that figured out, you want to watch a movie or something?"

Rory dubiously wrote _bake cake? _in her notebook and sighed. "We really didn't figure anything out," she said. "I think we should work on this a little more tonight."

"Nope," Jess said, heading up the stairs to his and Luke's apartment. "Come on, I rented It the other day and I'm too scared to watch it alone." He pouted, which was a strange look for someone wearing a Metallica t-shirt.

"I so do not believe you," Rory said, although she followed him to the stairs. Before she started walking up she looked out the window hesitantly. What if Dean walked by the diner and saw that she wasn't there? He knew she was working on her project tonight. If he saw she wasn't at Luke's he might try to call her at home, and he'd be worried when she wasn't there. For a second she thought about just going home, but Jess called to her from the top of the stairs.

"Are you coming?" he asked. Before she could talk herself out of it Rory nodded and headed upstairs. Sure enough, Jess headed right to the TV and put a DVD copy of It in. It was even from Stars Hollow Video, like he'd said.

Rory said primly on the couch, looking around the apartment. "So, when will Luke be home?" She'd never been up to his apartment before and the studio layout made her feel slightly uncomfortable. She could see Luke's unmade bed from the couch, which was a little more personal than she liked. Now when Luke served her coffee she was just going to be thinking about his gray flannel sheets.

Jess shrugged, messing around with the DVD remote. "Before tomorrow, probably," he said. "I have no idea where he went."

"You don't know when he'll be back?" Rory shook her head, getting up off the couch. "I think I should probably go home," she said. She had assumed Luke would be back soon enough and they'd have a buffer while they watched the movie. Being alone with Jess downstairs in the diner was one thing, but sitting on the couch in his apartment?

He grabbed her wrist. "You don't have to leave," he said. "We don't need a baby-sitter. Come on, don't you trust me?"

Rory had no idea if she trusted him or not. She also had no idea if she trusted herself. He had already kissed her once out of nowhere, and she was a little worried that if he did it again she would kiss him back. She loved Dean, but she couldn't deny that she was finding herself attracted to Jess. Sure, he had an attitude and put in absolutely no effort in school, but Rory knew he was smart. Every time she saw him in class he was reading, and he had been sitting at the counter with a book when she had walked by Luke's that weekend. She liked that he read a lot. Dean didn't have anything against reading, but he wasn't the type to do it for fun. And Jess was funny, in a dry, sarcastic kind of way. Rory kind of enjoyed his abrasive sense of humor. Even though being alone in Luke's apartment with him had a little on edge, she knew watching a schmaltzy horror movie with him would be fun.

Slowly, she sat back down on the couch. "I guess I can stay," she said quietly. Jess' hand felt warm on her wrist.

"Good," he said, but he didn't let go of her wrist. She tried her best to ignore it, staring at the screen. She had seen It before, but it had been a while.

"This movie isn't very scary," she commented a little while into the movie. "Maybe if I had watched it when I was little I would have thought it was. The clown isn't even that bad. All clowns are kind of creepy, and he's not much creepier than a regular clown." She knew she was babbling, but Jess had started rubbing his thumb against the inside of her wrist and it was making her feel tense and on edge.

"It's not a great movie," Jess agreed. "It was probably better when it first came out. We don't have to watch it, if you don't want. We could do something else."

"Like what?" Rory asked. Jess' hand slipped down to her thigh in response. She stared at it, knowing she should get up and leave but feeling paralyzed. "Jess…"

He looked at her innocently. "We're not doing anything wrong," he said. "We're just watching a movie."

Rory was about to correct him when Jess kissed her. This time his lips didn't taste like cigarettes, and she didn't pull away. She closed her eyes and for a second, she could almost pretend that she wasn't kissing the wrong person. But Jess' lips felt different, and when he put a hand on the back of her neck his grip was too rough. "Wait," she said, pulling away. "I have a boyfriend." Her breath was coming shallow and fast, and she looked at the door fearfully, afraid Luke was going to walk in any second.

"Well, he wasn't invited," Jess said, kissing her jawbone.

She shivered, and reluctantly pulled away. "I can't do this," she said. "Maybe you're okay with this, but I can't cheat on my boyfriend. I just can't."

"So dump him," Jess said with a shrug. "This is more fun, right?"

Rory jumped up off the couch and headed to the door. "I just can't," she repeated, running down the stairs. Her face burned, and she felt like she might burst into tears at any minute. She didn't know which was worse—the fact that she had kissed another guy, or the fact that she had enjoyed it.

She was frantically scooping all her things into her backpack when Jess came downstairs. "You don't have to leave," he said. "Look, we can just finish watching the movie. Nothing will happen, I swear."

"I don't believe you," Rory said shakily. "And it's getting late. I need to get home."

"It's dark," Jess said, looking outside. "At least let me walk you home."

Rory shook her head. "No," she said. "Just… leave me alone." She opened the door to the diner and hurried down the sidewalk, not looking back to see if Jess was watching her go. She just wanted to get home and forget that the evening ever happened.

"Dean called," Lorelai said once Rory slammed their front door behind her. "It's late; did you get a lot done?"

"Yeah," Rory said shortly. "I think we've got a pretty good handle on things. I'm going to call Dean back." She grabbed the phone and headed to her bedroom, tossing her backpack in the corner. It was good thing she had finished her homework before she went to the diner, because she was in no mood to deal with pre-calculus now. For a second she thought about not even calling Dean back and just going to bed, but she didn't want him to worry about her. He always worried about her and Rory had thought it was silly, because she'd always been okay before. Now she had actually given him a reason to worry and hopefully he would never know about it.

Dean answered on the second ring, like he had been watching the phone waiting for her to call. "You were out late," he commented. Her mom had already said that, but it kind of bothered her when Dean did. His tone was different, like he didn't approve.

"It's harder to think of a chemical reaction that I thought," Rory said, trying to keep her voice even. "Have you guys picked anything yet?"

"MacKenzie suggested doing it about metal rusting, but I don't know how we can speed up the rusting process to actually observe it," Dean said. "So was everything okay? Did Jess actually help out?"

"Kind of," Rory said absently, looking at her reflection in the mirror over her dresser. Did she look different? She was a little flushed, but she thought it was probably just from running home. She didn't look like the kind of girl who was cheating on her boyfriend.

_Cheated_, she corrected herself firmly. Past tense. It had happened and she wasn't proud of it, but she wasn't going to let it happen again. And she wasn't going to let Dean find out about it. She knew she could count on herself to slip up, and she prayed Jess wouldn't say anything about it. "What are you doing after school tomorrow?" she asked. "We could go to another movie or something."  
>"I've got basketball practice," Dean said apologetically. "We could meet at Luke's before school, though."<p>

Even though she had breakfast with Dean before school pretty regularly, she didn't want to go to Luke's. At least not without backup. "Maybe. My mom mentioned wanting Luke's, so she might want to come too." It was a lie, but in the past couple of days she had turned into the kind of girl who lied to her boyfriend.

"Sounds good to me," Dean said. Dean didn't mind hanging out with Lorelai, which was part of what made him so great. He respected the relationship she had with her mom, and never complained when they were a group of three. Rory couldn't imagine that Jess was good around adults. "I think I'm going to head to bed, but I'll see you in the morning. I love you."

"I love you too," Rory echoed. When she hung up, she felt guiltier than she ever had in her life. In the morning she was going to have to face her boyfriend, in the diner where she had cheated on him the night before. She felt horrible.

She felt even more horrible about the fact that she wouldn't mind kissing Jess again.


	6. You've Got Me

Rory was up unexpectedly late that night trying to puzzle through the situation she had landed herself in. The facts were very simple. She was dating Dean, loved him, and had no desire to end their relationship. The other facts were that she was attracted to Jess and had enjoyed kissing him. These two sets of facts did not overlap neatly in any way, which made the whole thing more than a little bit frustrating. Rory didn't deal well in feelings and relationships. Friendships were easy enough, but making a relationship work with Dean for a year had been kind of a fluke. She much preferred logic, and there was absolutely none to be found in her life currently.

Thanks to their project she couldn't stop seeing Jess (in a purely literal sense) and more importantly, she didn't want to. Even though she didn't know Jess well yet, she suspected they had a lot in common. At the very least they were both interested in reading and music, which was honestly more than she could say for her and Dean. It had never bothered her that she and Dean didn't have a ton of things in common, but books and music were two huge parts of her life and it was nice to have someone to share that with besides her mother. In another world where they hadn't kissed, she could have very happily had a platonic friendship with Jess. They had kind of burned that bridge, though. Platonic friends weren't supposed to kiss each other, not in the way she and Jess had.

It was approaching two in the morning when one of those delirious, late-night thoughts crossed Rory's mind. _If I've already cheated on Dean once, what's the harm in doing it again? _The devil on her shoulder thought it was okay, but she quickly shook the thought away. One kiss with Jess was one thing, but continuing to have a physical relationship with Jess would just be plain wrong. Wasn't adultery one of the "thou shalt not"s in the Ten Commandments? If it wasn't, it definitely should have been. Rory had no idea if adultery strictly referred to married couples or not but either way, she knew cheating was bad. Rory was not the type of girl who did bad things.

_What does it matter what type of girl I am, though?_ Rory wondered. Jess didn't think she was the type of girl who would enjoy punk music, and yet she did. Maybe she wasn't a "type" of girl. Maybe she was just a girl, a girl who didn't always make great decisions because she had thoughts and feelings that weren't always logical and didn't always make sense. For so long though, people had seen her as an "always" kind of girl. She always did her homework on time, always made sure she and her mom didn't accidentally leave Luke's without paying and always did her best to be a good girlfriend. Had she gone her entire life letting people's opinions of her dictate her behavior? How many decisions did she make unconsciously based on what people expected her to do, and not what she actually wanted her to do?  
>Seventeen was much too young to be having a mid-life crisis, but Rory felt like going out and buying herself a sports car so she could just drive away from the issue altogether. Her sleep was fitful and she woke up exhausted. She could have kicked herself for agreeing to have breakfast with Jess. At least when she stumbled out into the kitchen her mom was waiting for her at the table with a cup of coffee. "Why am I going to Luke's with you again?" Lorelai asked sleepily. She was in full makeup already, but was still wearing her pajamas.<p>

"I told you, I felt bad about getting home so late last night," Rory said, taking a grateful gulp of coffee. "And I've got a lot more work to do on this project so it's probably going to happen a lot in the next few weeks."

At least Lorelai didn't think anything was amiss. She was so used to Rory running herself ragged with school and her extracurriculars that a late night every now and then was expected. She was so convinced of her daughter's perfection that she never would have guessed what Rory had been up to the night before. Rory felt a flicker of guilt that she was keeping this from her mom, but it passed quickly. She had already used up her supply of guilt when she thought about Dean.

Her stomach tied itself in knots on the drive to Luke's. She actually thought she might throw up once she saw Dean patiently waiting for them inside. When he saw the Jeep pull up he waved through the window and Rory waved back, her hand feeling like it was made out of lead. She wasn't really looking at Dean, though. She was looking at Jess.

He was standing at the counter with his back to the door, filling up a mug of coffee. Once he turned around to deliver it she averted her eyes, not wanting him to know she had been looking at him. Other than her unhelpful soul searching and brief delusion that she could continue seeing both Jess and Dean, she was no closer to figuring out what to do. Ignoring Jess seemed like as good of a short term solution as any. It wasn't like he would be confused about why she was doing it, especially since Dean was sitting right in front of him.

Even though her legs felt shaky, Rory walked into the diner with her head held high. "Good morning," she said to Dean, giving him a kiss. Even though she was ignoring Jess, she hoped he wasn't ignoring her. She wanted him to see that even if he tried, he couldn't ruin her relationship with Dean. Feeling minorly attracted to Jess didn't change the fact that she loved Dean and being his girlfriend.

"Morning, Dean," Lorelai added. "It's nice to see you. You haven't been around as much lately."  
>"He was just over on Sunday," Rory was quick to point out. She sounded so jumpy, and reminded herself to calm down. People were going to start assuming something was wrong if she jumped on every observation with corrections and defensiveness.<p>

Luckily, Dean didn't seem to think Rory had done anything strange. "Basketball practice is starting up big time," he said. "Coach kept us until six last night, and we have to be there again tonight."

"I forget, does Stars Hollow High have a good basketball team?" Lorelai asked.

"No," Dean and Rory said simultaneously. Dean grinned at her and she returned his smile, genuinely matching his enthusiasm. He was so adorable when he smiled. "None of our sports teams are that great," Dean added. "We're not going to be the next Hoosiers anytime soon, either."

"Well of course not, silly," Lorelai said. "We're from Connecticut."

Rory groaned and flagged Luke over to their table. "Can we get some coffee? Mom's already made one bad joke too many."

"And a plate of bacon to start with," Lorelai added. "Oh, and can you make me one of those breakfast biscuit sandwich things that you made me last week?" When look gave her a look, she shrugged. "There's no McDonald's here. I've got a bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit shaped hole in my heart."

Luke wrote it down reluctantly and then wrote down Dean and Rory's orders, which they actually picked off the menu. "It'll be out soon," he promised, walking to the kitchen.

"Luke, the coffee!" Lorelai called desperately. She looked longingly at the pot behind the counter. "Rory, make him get us coffee," she said, poking her in the arm.

"I've got it," Jess said from the counter. He brought over three mugs. "You all want coffee?" Even though he was speaking to the whole table, he stared right at Rory. She nodded, looking away from him. He filled her mug first and worked his way around the table. "Let me know if you need a refill."

"Thanks, Jess," Lorelai said, looking a little bit surprised. Once he walked away, she leaned over to Rory. "Is he always like that? At dinner last week he seemed like he hated everything but that was surprisingly polite."

"He probably wants us to give him a good tip," Dean said. "At school he doesn't talk to anybody, and Rory said he hasn't been much help on their chemistry project either."

Rory hoped Jess couldn't hear them, but she didn't want to look around to see where he was. "Really?" Lorelai said, frowning. "I thought the two of you were friends."

Dean snorted. "He's not friends with anybody." He looked at Rory as if to confirm that, but she was meticulously cutting her French toast into equally sized pieces.

"When he was over for dinner you were the only one he even talked to," Lorelai said to Rory. "You guys were outside for so long I thought you'd freeze to death."

Rory studied her coffee, not looking at Dean. She'd made it a whole week without telling Dean that she and Jess had hung out at dinner and now it was out in the open. "We're not really friends," she mumbled.

Luke delivered their food a second later, saving them from an awkward silence. "Looks great, Luke," Lorelai said, oblivious to the awkward pall hanging over the table. "You should really add this to your menu. I think it'd be a big seller."

"If people want that crap they can go to McDonald's," Luke said.

"Oh please, it's not any worse than an omelet," Lorelai said, waving him away. "You can go now. Let us eat in peace." Luke shook his head, but walked back to the counter and started making a fresh pot of coffee. "I call first dibs on the new pot!" she called.

Rory just tried to each her French toast quickly, chasing each bite with a big sip of coffee. "I told Lane I'd meet up with her before class," she explained when Lorelai looked at her curiously. "She was telling me a story but she ran out of time when she called last night." Much like everything else she said lately that wasn't true, but she knew her mom and Dean would believe it thanks to Mrs. Kim's strict rules for talking on the phone.

Maybe mentioning Lane had invoked some act of God, because a minute later Rory saw Lane walk past the diner. She waved at her and motioned for her to stay there, then quickly stood up and tossed her napkin on her plate. "There's Lane," she said. "I've got to go. Have a good day at work, Mom." For good measure, she gave Dean a quick kiss. "I'll catch up with you soon," she promised. He gave a brusque nod, staring at his scrambled eggs. She hadn't expected anything else, really. She was expecting some kind of argument later, though. She and Dean weren't big on arguing, but the last time they had gotten into it he'd had the exact same look on his face. His mouth was a practically a straight line, and there was none of the warmth in his eyes that he usually had when he looked at her. It was like Rory had already left.

Lane must have sensed something was up, because she was still standing on the sidewalk in front of the diner. "What's going on?" Lane asked when Rory stepped outside. "I know you'd never skip breakfast to talk to me unless it was really important."

Rory wanted to tell Lane that she was infinitely more important than French toast, but there was no time. It wouldn't take Dean long to finish his food, and Rory knew he was not in the mood to make small talk with Lorelai. "Just get me away from here," she said, trying to maintain a semblance of composure and not to sprint across the street to the school. "This morning has already been a total disaster."

"Well, don't leave me hanging! Spill."

Rory shook her head and collapsed on a bench outside of the school. "Remember how I didn't tell Dean about when Jess came over for dinner? Well, I didn't have to because my mom did at breakfast." Noting the shocked look on Lane's face, she charged ahead. "_Not _about… you know," Rory said, not wanting to mention the kiss out loud when there were people around. "But she told him that we were hanging out on the porch by ourselves. I kind of just let Dean believe we all had dinner together." She shook her head. "I know I mislead him, but you should've seen him when he saw Jess for the first time. He didn't even know who he was and he just instantly hated him. I couldn't just say 'yeah, that's Jess, we hung out all night last night'. I couldn't do it, Lane!"

Lane rested a hand on Rory's shoulder. "Okay, take a breath," she said. "You didn't do anything wrong. You don't owe Dean every detail of your life."

"I know, but now it looks like I was hiding something from him and I wasn't, I swear." Now she was lying to Lane. Apparently once you started lying to one person it just spilled into every hemisphere of your life. "Honestly, it didn't seem like a big deal at the time but now I feel like I should have told him, so he didn't have to hear it from my mom. He already doesn't love that Jess and I are partners for that chem project and he thinks Jess is a jerk anyway, so I know he's going to get all weird about it. He practically growled at me when I said goodbye a minute ago." That was merely an exaggeration, not a lie.

"I don't know what to do, Lane," Rory said, kicking at the ground. "It's not like I can just stop talking to Jess. We've got this project going on. And now Dean is going to dislike him twice as much."

"Dean doesn't have to love all our classmates. It's just a science project," Lane said with a shrug. "Unless…" She looked over at the diner, where Dean and Lorelai had just left. Jess was standing by the door, putting a coat on, and didn't look far behind. "It's not just a science project?"

Rory shrugged. "Honestly, I'd like to be friends with Jess," she said quickly, watching Dean walk their way. "He seems really cool, and I think we'd have a lot in common. But I feel like that's impossible when Dean doesn't like him. It would be a constant fight. This would be so much easier if Dean would just try to get to know him and then we could all be friends." That wouldn't happen in a million ears for a multitude of reasons, but Lane didn't have to know that.

"Maybe I'll start dating Jess and then we can all double date," Lane said with a laugh. "Look, just… don't worry about it. Maybe things will work themselves out." Her words were optimistic, but even she looked skeptical.

Rory laughed ruefully. "Lane, I love you, but that seems incredibly unlikely," Rory said.

Lane shrugged. "Hey, I don't have a big frame of reference for relationship problems. The Lee's son didn't look at me once during dinner on Friday night."

"Well, thanks anyway," Rory said, tossing her backpack over her shoulder. "I am going to go talk to Dean before school starts." It had looked like Dean had been walking right toward them, but he went straight into the building instead. After the bomb her mom had dropped at dinner, Rory wasn't exactly surprised.

Rory had made it to the door when she was intercepted by Jess. She didn't understand how he was always there at the worst possible time. "You ran out of the diner pretty quickly," he said. "Getting tired of that boyfriend of yours?"

"I'm not talking to you right now."

"You just did," Jess pointed out.

Rory scowled. Of course Jess would say something like that. "Kindly go away so I can go find Dean," she said.

"So something _did _happen," Jess said, following her inside. "Interesting. Did he find out about last night?"

Rory whipped around and grabbed his arm, pulling him into a little alcove by the bathrooms that held a water fountain that probably hadn't worked since the class of 1981 graduated. "Do not say anything about that. I mean it. It shouldn't have happened."

"Maybe not," Jess conceded. "But you weren't exactly saying no."

She should have said no. She should have said no when he asked her to eat outside with her at dinner. If she had said no then, she wouldn't have a pissed off boyfriend and a stalker who accosted her at every possible opportunity. "I'm going to injure you," Rory fumed. "Severely, and this school has a zero tolerance policy for violence so that should give you some idea of how serious I am." She attempted to stomp away and track down Dean before the warning bell rang, but Jess reached out and grabbed her arm.

He rubbed his thumb lightly against her wrist and Rory wondered if he could feel her pulse racing. "How about if I do this?"

People streamed past the alcove, paying no attention to her and Jess. Still, it made her nervous. She pulled her arm away from him. "Not this time," she said firmly. Before Jess could protest she joined the flow of traffic, scanning the hallways for Dean. The warning bell rang just as she reached his locker, where she had expected him to be. Dean was nowhere to be seen. And when she walked back the opposite way to get to her class, Jess was gone.


	7. All Tangled Up

A/N: After writing about Jess and Rory being reasonably mature adults it's nice to have fun with them being a total disasterpiece. Rory was way too good in high school.

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><p>It took several days, but eventually Dean decided that his anger at Rory was unfounded, given the version of the story he was aware of. He said that he knew it was just like Rory to go out of her way to make someone feel welcome, and he should have been mad at her for being polite. Rory had graciously accepted his apology, and then proceeded to spew multiple apologies at him. It wasn't hard to sound genuine, because she was. She did feel bad for keeping it from him, just like she felt bad for keeping everything else that had happened between her and Jess from him. He had accepted her apology just as she had accepted his and they kissed and made up. By Friday morning, everything between the two of them was fine. And then Rory blew it, big time.<p>

"I can't believe I have to baby-sit tonight," Dean said, sitting down on a bench after school got out Friday afternoon. "I hate town meetings."

"Town meetings are great!" Rory argued. "Taylor always gets so upset, especially if Luke is there to rile him up." It was the reason she and her mom always snuck a bag of Twizzlers in with them.

Dean shook his head. "I think the town's fascination with meetings is the one thing I will never understand about Stars Hollow," he said. "Are you going to the one tonight?"

Normally, Rory would have said yes. The only problem was, nearly a week had gone by and she and Jess hadn't made any progress on their science project. After their attempt to work on it Monday night, she was a little bit afraid to try again. Even though she was still doing her best to ignore Jess, they had set up a plan to work on the project at Luke's during the town meeting. Working after hours was no longer an option in Rory's mind. Even though the diner was technically closed during town meetings, Luke usually came back and stayed open for an extra hour or so to make up for the lost time. No one else would be there during the meeting, but it would be early enough for people to still be out on the streets and if Jess tried something Rory could just run across the street and duck into Miss Patty's. There was no way Jess would follow her right into a town meeting.

"I'm going to be over at Luke's, actually," Rory said lightly. "Jess and I are going to take advantage of the quiet and work on our chemistry project for a little while." And this time, they really were going to work on their project. She wasn't going to fall for going upstairs to "watch a movie" again. She knew better now.

Dean's face clouded over. "Why do you have to work on it at Luke's? Why not go to the library or something?"

"Well, it's hard to discuss things in the library," Rory said, trying to sound diplomatic. "At Luke's we don't have to worry about being yelled at for talking above a whisper. Plus I'll already be there when Luke comes back from the meeting so I can order cake." She kept her tone casual. "Hey, you should meet me there once your parents get back," she added in a last ditch effort to keep Dean happy. "We can get Luke to make us one of those giant ice cream sundaes."

"I can't," Dean said, not sounding nearly as apologetic as he would have in regular circumstances. "I've got basketball practice at nine tomorrow morning and my parents won't want me to be out late."

"The town meeting won't get over that late," Rory said. "You can't get out for a little while? Your parents let you stay out until ten on school nights, and school starts earlier than nine." Hanging out with Dean at Luke's while Jess skulked around in the background wasn't exactly her idea of a great time, but it made more sense than Rory walking over to Dean's after the meeting, only to turn around and go home a little while later.

Dean looked like he was about to come up with some sort of excuse, but instead he sighed. "Look, I don't really want to hang out at Luke's, okay? Not while _he's _there."

Rory watched the last of her classmates straggle out of the school, joking around and making plans for the weekend. She had the sinking feeling that she wouldn't have any plans for the weekend, given the way her conversation with Dean was going. "Why exactly don't you like him?" Rory asked. "I mean, I'm not exactly his biggest fan, but he hasn't really done anything wrong."

Rory really did think Jess hadn't done anything wrong, but Dean apparently thought otherwise. "He hasn't done anything wrong?" Dean said, looking at her disbelievingly. "Open your eyes, Rory. He's been causing trouble all over town. I bet half the people at the town meeting tonight are going to be complaining about him."

Rory wasn't exactly out of the loop when it came to town gossip, but she hadn't heard anything about Jess. Maybe it just hadn't made her way to the neck of the woods, or maybe it had and she just hadn't wanted to hear it. "Like what?"

"Let's see," Dean said sarcastically. "The collection that was in Doose's for that old bridge was stolen, and Taylor is pretty sure Jess did it. And there's a rumor going around that he set off a bunch of firecrackers outside the English classrooms the other day."

"Those are two things that might not have even happened," Rory said. "It's just gossip. Is that really enough to judge a person by?"

Dean looked at her like she was being naïve, which irked her. His face just screamed "you've got to be kidding me". "Why are you defending him?" he asked. "You just said you weren't friends with him at breakfast the other day."

"I have to be friends with someone to defend them?" Rory asked. "That's a little unreasonable. I'm not even defending him; I'm just pointing out that there's absolutely no proof that he did either of those things, and you're acting like we should form a pitchfork mob and run him out of town."

"That's a little dramatic," Dean said, pulling a water bottle from his bag and taking a long drink. "I don't want to talk about this anymore. I don't like the guy, and I don't have to. And I don't have to like you hanging out with him."

"It's a project for school!" Rory cried. She could feel the frustration mounting, and she really didn't want to explode with people around. They'd only made up a few hours ago. Life was supposed to be more like a rollercoaster, not seventeen years of smooth sailing followed by two weeks of a ridiculous amount of turmoil. She felt like she was in some cheesy CW teen drama. "Do you want me to ask Mr. Chambers to switch me and you around so I'm working with MacKenzie and you're working with Jess? You don't like him, but at least I wouldn't be working with him then."

Dean shook his head, like he couldn't even deal with the conversation they were having. "You don't have to be sarcastic," he said.

"Well, I have no idea what else to do when you're blowing this entire thing out of proportion," Rory said. "I have one school project with the guy, and you're acting insanely jealous."

The J-word was not the right one to use. Dean barked out a harsh laugh. "Jealous of that guy? Yeah, right. I just don't like him."

"Well, I do," Rory blurted out. Once the words were out of her mouth, it was impossible to take them back. Judging by the shocked look on Dean's face, he hadn't picked that particular moment to zone out. "I haven't been talking to him out of respect for you, but last week we talked about a book he was reading and I think he'd probably be pretty cool if I got to know him, and you got to know him."

Dean stood and slung his backpack over his shoulder angrily. "Well, that's great. I'm glad he's so 'cool'. Sorry _I'm_ not cool enough for you." Rory couldn't even think of anything to say to bring him back as he walked away. She called his name, but he didn't even turn around. He just stalked off, fueled by some sort of righteous indignation that Rory couldn't make heads or tails of.

After Dean disappeared around a corner she just sat there by herself for a minute, hoping he would change his mind and come back. When he didn't, she buried her face in her hands. "Damn it!" she yelled, the sound muffled against her palms. It was like some sort of sick cosmic joke. Suddenly, Rory was incapable of doing anything right. She wasn't making the right decisions and she wasn't saying the right things when it came to the backlash from the decisions. She was just sick of it. And she couldn't even really complain, because it was all her friggin' fault.

When she showed up at the diner later to work on her chemistry project she was not in the most sunshiney of moods. "That's a good look for you," Jess said, referencing the scowl that had been plastered on her face since her fight with Dean. Luckily her mom had worked late at the inn and had to head right to the town meeting from there, so she hadn't been witness to Rory's funk.

"Let's just talk about chemistry," Rory said, flipping over her notebook. "You have any ideas for this project?"

"I was thinking the cake should be chocolate," Jess said, handing her a cup of coffee without even asking if she wanted one. "I've always preferred chocolate to vanilla."

Rory sighed, but it was half-hearted. "Okay, chocolate cake," she said, writing it in her notebook. "Do you know how to bake a cake? Because I've never made a cake before."

"Well, we are in a diner that serves cake," Jess pointed out. "I bet Luke has a recipe around here somewhere." He looked over at the counter, like he expected a cookbook to be sitting on the counter.

She shook her head. "I've seen Luke mix up cake batter before. He doesn't use a recipe. He's made it so many times he doesn't need to."

"I can have him write it down," Jess suggested. "And then we can bake a cake."

"And stare at the oven while it bakes?" Rory said, shaking her head. "This project is stupid. Let's just light a piece of paper on fire or something. Or the inn has fireplaces in the rooms. We could just go light one of those."

Jess sat down across from her, straddling his chair backwards. "Okay, what's wrong?"

"Excuse me?" As conflicted as she felt about Jess, she had known him for less than two weeks. She wasn't comfortable with him asking about her problems already.

"You walked in here looking like you've been sucking on a lemon all day and you looked like you wanted to bite my head off when I gave you your coffee," Jess said. "_And _you called this project stupid. The Rory I know wouldn't refer to school as stupid."

"There is no Rory you know," she pointed out. "You just met me, and I haven't even told you that much about myself. All you know is that I like reading and some punk music and I do well in school."

"I know you like coffee," Jess added. "And all parts of peach pie, not just the crust. You like extra pickles on your cheeseburger, extra cheese on your cheese fries and massive amounts of whipped cream on your ice cream."

Rory just waved him away. "That's just stuff you've learned working here, not real things about me," she said. "I like pepperoni on my pizza too, but Luke doesn't serve that."

Jess held up a finger to silence her and continued. "Your mom is your best friend, you're friendly to everyone at school but you'd rather just talk to Lane, you're part of a ridiculous amount of extracurricular activities to look important, and you keep your backpack more organized than a filing cabinet."

"I do not do extracurriculars to look important!" Rory argued.

"Okay, to look good for colleges then," Jess relented. "But admit it, everything else I said is true."

"You see me in here with my mom all the time, you go to school with Lane and me, and my backpack is literally open on the table right now," Rory said, pointing at it. "Anyone could list off all the things you just did. It's a little pretentious to assume you know any real things about me. I'm not sitting here pretending I know anything about you." She didn't know anything about him, after all. Aside from the obvious lack of caring toward school and his interest in music and reading, Jess was a closed book. Fed up with having ridiculous conversations, she rested her chin in her palm and took a sip of her coffee. "Look, let's just work on the project, okay?" she said tiredly. "It's been a long day."

For a beautiful moment, Jess actually busied himself with reading the project instructions, even though Rory had looked them over a hundred times. The silence only lasted a few scant minutes, though. "I saw you earlier," Jess offered, nodding at the high school. "You and Dean. He looked pretty pissed."

There was no point in denying it, really. "Such is life," she said with a shrug. "At least lately."

"Lately since last Tuesday?" Jess suggested.

"Somewhere around there," Rory admitted. "He doesn't like you. He thinks you steal things and set fires and even though he didn't say so, I'm assuming he thinks that you're out to kidnap me or something."

Jess raised an eyebrow, but he didn't tell Rory she was wrong. "Dean seems like a swell guy," he said. "Trying to protect you from a thief and arsonist. He's like a regular Ward Cleaver."

"People are saying you took the funds for the bridge from Doose's," Rory said, feeling the need to elaborate. "If you did, that was a really shitty thing to do."

"Maybe the just misplaced it," Jess suggested.

Rory heaved a sigh that seemed to come from the soles of her feet. "This isn't about the bridge fund. Dean just doesn't like you, and he's not going to be happy until this project is over and I can go back to spending all my spare time with him." The bitterness in her voice was harsh and uncharacteristic. She shook her head vigorously, trying to clear away all the negative thoughts. "I'm being unfair to him," she said. "He's just used to things being one way and now they're different. I'm sure he'll adjust."

"You're defending his behavior?" It was obvious he thought Rory was making a mistake.

"I can't have this conversation again today," Rory said. "I already had it once today, about you. I can't…" She trailed off, not sure what she even wanted to say next. When she tried again, she didn't get much further. "I'm not…" She threw up her hands in frustration. "I can't deal with this. I'm not _supposed to _have to deal with this."

"Why not?" Jess challenged her. "Why not you? Other people deal with tough decisions all the time, and I bet none of them think they're supposed to have to make the hard choices. But they deal with it, and so can you."

"I'm just in the middle!" Rory cried. "I got in an argument with Dean earlier about you. Now I'm arguing with you about him. I'm just being pulled back and forth, and I didn't even do anything!"

After Rory was done with her outburst the diner felt unnaturally silent. She could hear the ticking of a clock she had never noticed once before in all her time at Luke's. In the kitchen, a sink was dripping. If she had been closer to the windows, she probably could have heard the leaves skittering on the pavement outside and the conversation going on at Miss Patty's. Jess just stared at her, looking incredibly serious. Rory didn't even want to make eye contact with, because when she did it felt like he was seeing a part of her that she didn't want to acknowledge. At long last, Jess spoke up.

"You didn't do anything?" he asked, getting off of his chair. He walked around the table slowly and stood in front of Rory, making her nervous. "You didn't do this?"

He bent down slightly and tilted Rory's face up to his own, brushing his lips against hers. He didn't even kiss her, really. It was the merest suggestion of a kiss. That was enough, though. It reminded Rory of when they had actually kissed and despite everything she knew to be right, she wanted more. "No," she whispered, her face just inches away from his. "You did that."

"So what are you going to do?" he whispered back. "What are you, Rory Gilmore, going to do?"

She should have left. She should have bolted from her seat, grabbed her backpack and ran until she was safely in her room at home, or at least with her mom at Miss Patty's. And when she was there she should have called Dean and apologized—again—for the whole crappy day. Then she should have hid in her room all weekend until it was time for school on Monday, when she should have marched up to Mr. Chambers as soon as the school was unlocked to demand that he switch her lab partner.

But she didn't do any of that.

Instead, Rory kissed him back.


	8. All Of The Things That You Do

A/N: Hi friends! It feels like I haven't updated in forever after posting the first few chapters so quickly. I woke up last Monday and my computer didn't work, so that was just a whole thing. Plus I fixed my sleep schedule, so I'm not up until 4am every night. Good for me, bad for having writing time. BUT I have one more test and then my semester is over and I'll have a few weeks free! And now that I've gotten past all the things you probably don't care about, here's chapter eight.

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><p>"Rory, phone!" Lorelai knocked on her door and Rory groaned.<p>

She had never had alcohol before, but she was fairly sure she had a hangover anyway. Was there such a thing as an emotional hangover? When she woke up on Saturday morning she had immediately pulled her blanket over her head, vowing to stay in her room until the end of time, or at least until school on Monday. For almost an hour her plan had worked, until someone had the audacity to ruin it by calling her.

"Who is it?" Rory called. The answer would be the deciding factor in whether she got out of bed or not.

"Jess, I think."

"Jess?" She climbed out of bed and opened the door, taking the phone from her mom. Not many people called her at home, so she expected it to be Lane, or even Dean on the off chance that he had cooled down from their fight the day before. She wasn't even sure Jess had her phone number. Just to be sure, she answered the phone tentatively. "Hello?"

"You left your notebook at the diner last night," Jess said in place of a greeting. "You know, when you ran out like the place was on fire."

Rory grimaced, remembering her totally uncool exit the night before. Her kiss with Jess had lasted for an incredible 37 seconds before she had remembered the town hall meeting going on across the street and pulled back in a panic. Suddenly, just being in the diner with Jess at all felt incriminating. She had scooped up her backpack and dashed out the door before Jess could protest. "I swear I don't have a habit of doing that," she said. "Just when the situation calls for it."

"I believe your exact words were 'gotta go'," Jess said to jog her memory. "And then you grabbed your backpack and were halfway down the block before I even noticed you left your notebook behind."

"There is a chance that's what happened," Rory said with a groan. "I thought I grabbed all my stuff. Can you just bring it to school on Monday? I won't need it this weekend." Like any organizational enthusiast, Rory had a separate notebook for each of her classes.

"You think we should work on the project more this weekend?"

Rory shook her head vehemently, and then realized Jess couldn't see her over the phone. "No," she said emphatically. "I'll work on it more after school on Monday. Don't even worry about helping, really." She'd prefer to do the entire project herself if it meant not being tempted to allow Jess to distract her. Really, she'd prefer to do the entire project herself anyway.

"If you insist," Jess said. "You want to go to a movie or something instead?"

Rory was certain she hadn't heard Jess properly. "With you? No, I can't."

"What's Dean doing today?"

"He's going to his sister's gymnastics competition in Woodbridge," Rory said uncertainly. "Why?"

"Good, then you and I can hang out," Jess said, like he had solved some sort of problem that Rory know existed. "You said Dean doesn't like me, but he's not around, so who cares?"

Rory cared. Or at least, she thought she did. She had kissed Jess the night before, but she still loved Dean. And even though she knew what she had done would hurt him, she didn't want to hurt him. She didn't get any pleasure out of going behind Dean's back. It made her feel sick to her stomach. "Well, I know you don't like Dean, but I do. And Dean wouldn't like it I was hanging out with you."

"That has to be the dumbest thing you've said since I've known you," Jess said.

Rory opened her eyes so wide it made her blink. "That's a little rude, don't you think?"

"Come on, Rory. 'Dean wouldn't like it'? Dean wouldn't have liked you kissing me last night, but you did that," Jess said. "Are you just dealing with this on a case-by-case basis or something? When you feel like doing something you just do it, but when you don't you just blame it on Dean?"

Rory considered just hanging up on him, but hesitated. Jess wasn't the type of person who would back down without a fight, and she didn't want to give up and let him feel like he won. "You have no idea what you're saying," Rory said, even though it was a really stupid comeback. "This has nothing to do with Dean."

"You just said we couldn't hang out because Dean wouldn't like it. That sounds like it's about Dean to me."

She cursed under her breath. Jess had a way of making her incredibly flustered. "It isn't about Dean! Well, it is, but…" It was also a lot about her. She actually was concerned about how Dean would feel, but she was also using him as an excuse. As much as she genuinely wanted to be friends with Jess, she was too scared to try because she was worried that they wouldn't be able to keep things platonic. Instead of trying to work on a friendship sans-kissing, it was just easier to say that Dean didn't like them hanging out. Most people would respect a girl who had her boyfriend's feelings at heart, but Jess was one of the rare few that really couldn't care less. It was unfortunately kind of intriguing.

Rory knew that she probably shouldn't be hanging out with Jess, but somehow the idea of not seeing him felt worse. "Okay," she started with a sigh. "I was thinking about going to Luke's today. If I do go, say around two or so, and you happen to be there then I guess that would just be unavoidable." Rory was at Luke's all the time, and Dean knew that. If he somehow found out that Rory had run into Jess while at Luke's he couldn't possibly be mad about it, right?

"Could you think about going somewhere else instead?" Jess asked. "I'm kind of getting sick of Luke's. I don't have to work until dinner so I really don't want to hang out there all afternoon."

She considered changing her mind, but she decided to hold firm. "Nope. Going to Luke's today was my only plan, so that's where I'll be." It felt good to make a hard and fast decision. It also helped that Luke's was always busy on the weekends.

Jess sighed. "You really want to hang out at Luke's?"

"Hey, I'm just going to Luke's," Rory pointed out. "If you happen to be there, then I guess I'll see you there." Before Jess could protest, she hung up the phone with a satisfying beep.

As she got dressed, Rory tried to convince herself that going to Luke's was actually a good idea. For every good point about going to Luke's she had an equally compelling counter-argument, but eventually she decided that it was ultimately better to be out with the people than hiding in her bedroom. In her impassioned speech (to herself), she reasoned that by going to Luke's she would see any number of people in addition to Jess. That thought was enough to make her change out of her new jeans and put on an older pair. If she was going to Luke's just to be out and enjoy the town, she didn't need to be wearing her best jeans. She did leave her favorite green sweater on, though. It was always nice to look good.

Until two she busied herself with tidying up her bedroom and eventually moved onto the kitchen once she couldn't rearrange her books any further. "What on earth are you doing?" Lorelai asked, walking into the kitchen as Rory was scrubbing out the coffee maker.

"We hardly ever clean the coffee maker," Rory pointed out. "It's a little gross."

"No, it's like a cast iron pan," Lorelai said, pulling a box of cereal out of the cupboard. "You have to season it."

Rory rolled her eyes. "I don't think seasoning a cast iron pan is anything like leaving drips of old coffee inside the coffee maker." Not that she knew how to season a cast iron pan, or even what that meant. She continued scrubbing, until she realized Lorelai was standing right behind her tapping her foot. "Okay, okay," she said, rinsing off the coffee maker and handing it to her mom. "I'm sorry for the unnecessary cleaning."

"That's my girl," Lorelai said. "Why are you cleaning, anyway? It's a Saturday. Saturday is lazy day."

Rory shrugged. "I'm just killing time," she said. "I'm going to Luke's in a little while but I didn't have any plans before that so I had to find something to do."

"Luke's? Are you meeting Lane there?"

"Jess, actually," Rory said casually, running a sponge over the already clean counter. "He doesn't have to work at Luke's until tonight so we were just going to hang out for a little while."

Lorelai shook her head. "Back up a step. You're hanging out with Jess now? When did that happen?"

"Well, it's not something that happened, really," Rory said. "We've been working on that chemistry project and we actually have a lot in common. We just kind of became friends." At least, they would probably have a lot in common if they sat down and discussed their interests instead of just kissing each other. It wasn't technically a lie, more like guessing what could happen in the future.

Lorelai didn't look convinced. "You're hanging out with Jess instead of Dean? You used to hang out with Dean all the time and you've barely had any time to see him with this project."

"Dean is at his sister's gymnastics thing," Rory said. "And I can have more friends than just Dean. Most people have more than just one friend."

"You've got Lane," Lorelai pointed out.

"So I have Dean and Lane and that's the cap on the friends I'm allowed to have?"

Her mom sighed. "Of course not. I just don't know if Jess is the best guy for you to be hanging out with. He seems like a troublemaker."

"You know, I did catch him smoking crack behind the school yesterday," Rory said sarcastically. When Lorelai didn't say anything, Rory continued. "Just because he doesn't look like everyone else in Stars Hollow doesn't mean that he's bad or a trouble maker. He's just different. He's from New York; things are different there."

Lorelai held up her hands in defeat. "Okay, I get your point. Lord knows your dad wasn't exactly Anthony Michael Hall back in high school. I just don't want to see you get hurt."

Rory wrinkled her nose. "Bill Gates?"

"Breakfast Club," Lorelai corrected her. "I think you are the only person that actually watched Pirates of the Silicon Valley."

"It was interesting," Rory said with a shrug. She was a sucker for bad made-for-TV movies. "Now if you don't mind, I'm going to head to the diner. Don't worry, I'll head home the second Jess breaks out his tagging materials or a joint."

"Good girl," Lorelai said. "And what are you going to bring home for mommy?"

"A bacon cheeseburger and fries?" Rory guessed.

Lorelai kissed the top of her head. "With extra bacon."

Half an hour later, Rory was settled into a table at the back of Luke's with Jess, thoroughly engrossed in the argument that they were having. Instead of eating the fries that sat on the table, Rory was using one of them to gesticulate animatedly.

"You can't just completely dismiss Shakespeare," Rory said, nearly launching her fry at Jess when she pointed at him. "That's like saying you won't watch any movies made before 1980 because the aesthetic was a little different back then."

"That is not a valid comparison," Jess argued. "At least movies made before 1980 still used modern English. Shakespeare is nearly incomprehensible at times. It's not the subject matter; it's the fact that the books are written in an outdated language."

Rory shook her head. "Shakespeare practically invented half of modern English," she said, although she was certain that was a total exaggeration. "And he wrote for the masses. Everyday people, like you and me."

"Back in a time when people all used the same kind of language he did," Jess pointed out. "Anyway, writing for the masses isn't necessarily a good thing. Nicholas Sparks writes for the masses."

Rory couldn't argue with his point about Nicholas Sparks. "A lot of great writers write for everyone, though," she said. "Anyone can read Ayn Rand or Dickens or Melville."

"Oh, come on," Jess said. "That's a total technicality. Just because anyone could read Ayn Rand doesn't mean that anyone will. Not everyone likes confusing political tirades."

"Not everyone likes cheesy predictable love stories, either," Rory pointed out.

Jess grinned and pushed the plate of fries toward Rory. "Okay, I know when I've been beat," he said. "Enjoy your victory fries."

Rory popped one in her mouth with a smile. "They taste even better now," she said. "So, are you going to try reading Macbeth again?" The whole conversation had started when Jess admitted he had never made it past the first fifty pages of Macbeth, which had appalled Rory. Macbeth wasn't the best thing she had ever read, but she thought that everyone should read at least one or two Shakespeare plays.

Jess shrugged. "Maybe. Probably not, but you never know. I might run out of other books to read and give it another shot. There are a lot of other books in the world, though."

She shook her head. "You're impossible."

Jess didn't seem to mind being impossible. "Okay," he said, folding his hands on the table like they were at a business meeting. "I had an idea."

"About our project?" Rory asked. She had tried to bring up their chemistry project when she first got there since it wasn't in her nature to just leave school assignments lingering unfinished, but Jess had brushed her off.

"Sure," Jess said. "I was thinking you should break up with Dean and be with me instead."

Rory blinked at him. "So… I'm sorry, what does that have to do with our chemistry project?"

"Nothing," Jess said, unfazed. "It seemed like as good a segue as any, though."

Rory decided it was pointless to say that it was hardly an effective segue. "It's funny, I didn't have you pegged as the type of guy who would ask someone to be his girlfriend."

"I didn't," Jess said. "I just said you should break up with Dean, and then we'll be free to do whatever we want."

"I'm not the kind of girl who just does things with random guys," Rory said automatically. It had been true in the past, anyway.

Jess raised an eyebrow. "You sure about that?"

"Yes," Rory said firmly. "And I'm not breaking up with Dean. We've been together for over a year, and I love him."

"So since you've been together this long, you're never going to break up with him," Jess clarified. "You're going to marry him, because you've been together for a year."

"I did not say that," she corrected him. "I can't see the future. I just said that right now, I love him and don't want to break up with him. And you and I are friends. It all works out nicely."

Jess took a sip of her Coke. He looked like he didn't believe her in the slightest, and Rory couldn't really blame him. She had been giving him some mixed signals, what with kissing him and running away and everything. "We should probably go upstairs, don't you think? Free up this table for people who are actually paying for food."

She shook her head. "Let me guess, you want to watch a movie? No way. I'm not falling for that one again." Rory couldn't believe that she had fallen for it once. At least she knew better now.

Jess slid his hand across the table slowly and reached for Rory's hand. She pulled her hand away, looking around the diner nervously. Jess didn't care if other people were watching, but she sure did. "You can't fall for something that I'm not trying to trick you into doing," Jess said. "Come on. We can go upstairs and just hang out."

"I feel like we don't have the same definition of hanging out," Rory said. "Like, when I hang out with Lane we listen to music and talk about what's going on at school, and I know you don't care what's going on at school."

"So we listen to music," Jess said easily. "I'm sure I have some CDs that you would like. I've got them all upstairs. Even separated them by genre."

"My books are separated by genre!" Rory exclaimed before she could stop herself. "It's a good system," she amended more somberly. "But I'm sure your CDs will be okay if I don't see them." She had seen enough stupid teen movies to know what happened when two kids were alone in an apartment with music playing and she was not about to walk into that type of situation.

"I'll read Macbeth," Jess promised. "The whole book, and I won't even complain about much if you come upstairs with me." When Rory hesitated, he got out of his seat and held out a hand to her. "Come on, my shift doesn't start for another hour and I'm bored. There's no one else cool here."

Rory knew she should leave, but she did like that Jess considered her cool. "I'm only going to look at your CDs," she warned him as she got out of her chair.

That seemed to work for Jess. "Fine by me," he said, heading toward the stairs. Before she could reconsider, Rory followed him. Maybe things would be okay if she kept her focus on the CDs.


	9. Things That You Don't Know About Me

A/N: I reallyyyy dropped the ball there for a while. The TL;DR version is my computer broke and I had to borrow my mom's, I was sick, there were holidays and I had 2/3 of this chapter written and somehow managed to lose it in the computer kerfuffle. It was a whole big thing. I hope to start 2015 strong though! To make up for all the nonsense of not posting a chapter for like a month.

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><p>"I haven't heard of half these CDs," Rory commented, flipping through a stack of discs. "What genre are these ones in?"<p>

Jess looked over at her from where he was sitting on the couch, flipping through the television channels. True to his word, he had pointed her toward his CD collection once they got upstairs and busied himself with finding something to watch. "Miscellaneous," he said with a shrug. "It's not a fool-proof system."

"I can see that," Rory said. "My CDs aren't as organized as my books are. I've tried to keep them organized, but it's impossible with my mom around. She'll borrow them and leave them laying around the house or just stick them back wherever she can find room. Lane's collection is ridiculously organized, though." Every so often, usually when her mother was out of town, Lane would announce that she needed Rory's help reorganizing her collection based on whatever new system that she could think of. The last time they had rearranged things she'd had categories for "bands that sounded better when two bandmates broke up" and "bands that sounded worse when two bandmates broke up". They were very small categories, but Lane had decided her old categories weren't specific enough. Rory was pretty sure she had just been insanely bored since all the movie channels were blocked at her house. She could appreciate organization, but she had questioned the necessity of what they were doing several times that afternoon. She liked that Jess' system was a little bit looser.

"I'm not like anal about keeping them organized or anything," Jess said. "It just makes it easier to find them."

Rory nodded, looking through a new stack. "You don't have the new Eminem?" she asked, frowning at him. He stared back at her blankly. "I was just kidding," she assured him.

"I'm a little concerned that you knew there was a new Eminem CD out," Jess said.

"I like to keep updated on current events good and bad," Rory said. "You don't have a lot of bands with female singers," she noted. "You should get _The Velvet Underground & Nico_. It's The Velvet Underground, but they collaborated with—"

"Nico?" Jess guessed. Rory nodded. "She's that scary German woman, right? I don't know about that one."

Rory wasn't the biggest Nico fan herself, so she could sympathize. "How about Rilo Kiley?"

Jess shook his head. "I listened to the album that came out last year, but it was just okay."

"You should listen to their newest one," Rory insisted. "It's a lot better. Their second album had kind of a weird electronica thing going on that I didn't love, but I really liked their new album. What about Yo La Tengo then? Or The Breeders?"

"I've listened to them," Jess said. "I don't have their albums or anything, but I've heard songs here and there. There was a record store in New York that I liked that was pretty good about letting you sample albums before you bought them."

Whenever Rory and her mom had gone into the city it was usually to go shopping or see some kind of show, so she hadn't poked around cool record stores there before. She and Lane sometimes went to a record shop in Hartford, but they were pretty run-of-the-mill and stocked mostly popular new albums, with just a small section of funky used albums. "Don't most stores let you preview albums?" she asked, feeling like she really needed to expand her musical horizons even further.

"Depends on the store," Jess said. "There was a pretty cool store near our apartment, but the guy who owned it was a total elitist. He didn't let you preview anything or return things if they sucked, and he always talked everything up so you'd end up buying an album and finding out later that it was all weird European electronic music."

"Like grab bag night at Al's!" Rory said excitedly. "That sounds like fun."

"We should go someday," Jess said. "You've got a car, right? Just pick a Saturday and we'll go."

Rory almost agreed, but she hesitated. "I don't think that's going to work," she said, once again thinking about Dean. "Despite your very inappropriate suggestion that I just break up with Dean, I'm not going to. And I don't think—"

"Yeah, Dean wouldn't like it," Jess finished for it. "Come on, I'll buy you a hot dog. I'll even buy one for you to take back to him. Everyone likes hot dogs."

"Maybe he could come with us," Rory suggested, just so she could see the look on Jess' face. His pained grimace was worth it. "I was just kidding. Can I ask you something seriously, though?"

"If I say no will that affect your decision in any way?" Jess asked.

Rory ignored him. "What's your deal?"

"My deal?"

She paused for a minute, trying to work out what exactly it was that she wanted to say. Even though she was good with writing, it didn't always translate into speech. Maybe if Stars Hollow High had a debate team she would be better at it. "You don't strike me as the type of person who's particularly self-important," she said at last. "And yet you waltz into Stars Hollow thinking you can just kiss me and tell me to break up with my boyfriend so you and I can hook up instead. So what's up with that?" She almost added something about how there were dozens of other girls in Stars Hollow that were prettier than she was and also single, but she didn't think Jess would respond well to self-deprecation.

"Who said anything about hooking up?" Jess said, sounding genuinely confused. "I didn't say anything about it."

"But…" Rory trailed off, thinking back to their conversation. "You said I should break up with Dean so we could do whatever we wanted," she said. Given their past dalliances, she had assumed he'd meant more similar episodes. She flushed, embarrassed at the possibility that she had taken things the wrong way. What did it say about her that her mind automatically went to "hooking up"?

Jess started looking through a stack of DVDs, even though he had to start working soon. "I just meant that we could be friends," he said. "Everyone in this town except you hates me, and you can't even hang out with me because of Dean. It kind of sucks."

Rory was surprised to hear Jess speak so candidly. He gave off the vibe that he didn't really care what other people thought. Whenever she saw him hanging out outside before school started or just around town, he was always alone. Everyone else seemed to think it was because he was a troublemaker and Rory had never really believed that, but she hadn't considered that maybe he was just looking for some friends. He hadn't seemed like the type of person who would care. "You have a very strange way of trying to make friends if it includes telling people to break up their relationships," Rory said. "I could be your friend, you know. But you'll have to stop complaining about my boyfriend."

"Then your boyfriend will have to stop being so obsessed with you," Jess countered. "It's going to be pretty hard to hang out if we're only allowed when Dean's out of town."

"He is not obsessed with me," Rory said automatically. Yes, they hung out a lot and he liked when she called him every night, but that was hardly an obsession. That was just part of being in a relationship. "Look, I'll make it work," Rory said. "We can be friends."

"So then we can go to the record store in the city," Jess said. "Since we're friends."  
>"Maybe," Rory said, thinking that even if she somehow worked that out with Dean, her mom would never let her go. "You did promise me a hot dog, though. You better not go back on that."<p>

Jess mimed crossing his heart. "I would never go back on the promise of hot dogs," he said.

Before Rory could tell him that she wanted a hot dog with everything on it, Luke walked through the door. "You've got two minutes to get downstairs," he said to Jess. "We're swamped down there." Jess opened his mouth like he wanted to complain, but Luke just grabbed a spatula from the kitchen and headed back downstairs.

"Does this somehow violate child labor laws?" Jess asked Rory, pulling off the hoodie that he was wearing. "I'm not supposed to start working for twenty minutes."  
>"I don't think so," Rory said sympathetically. "But hey, at least there's no commute."<p>

"Yeah, that makes up for delivering burgers for hours," Jess said. "So, I guess I'll see you on Monday, then?"

For a second Rory thought about suggesting that they do something tomorrow, but she held off. She knew Dean would want to hang out, since he'd been out of town. "Monday," she agreed, pulling her coat on.

"Maybe I'll sit with Dean and his buddies at lunch then," Jess suggested. "We can talk things out. I bet by the end of the period we'll all be the three musketeers."

Rory rolled her eyes. "That would just be so fun," she said. "Leave Dean to me though, please?"  
>Jess nodded and held the door open for her as they walked downstairs. "You're the boss," he said. "You got your notebook?"<br>Rory patted the pocket of her coat. Grabbing her notebook was the first thing she'd done when she had got to Luke's. She hadn't wanted to manufacture any more reasons for Jess to get her to come over. Of course, now they were friends. "I'm all good," she said.

"You need any donuts for the road?" Jess asked, pointing at the donut display. Rory shook her head, but then changed her mind and grabbed a sprinkled one.

"Thanks," she said. Luke was too busy in the kitchen to notice Jess giving her free food, but he wasn't too busy to noticed that he wasn't working. "Oh, and a double bacon cheeseburger, with extra bacon," she added, remembering what her mom had requested.

"Jess!" Luke called. "I've got four plates waiting for you back here. What are you doing?"

"Nothing," Jess said, grabbing two plates from him. "Got another order for you. Double cheeseburger with extra bacon."

Rory took a seat at the counter and munched on her donut while she waited for her mom's burger. When Jess brought it to her he started to say something, but Rory shook her head. "Go work," she said, not wanting him to get yelled at by Luke again. "See you on Monday." As she headed out of the diner she waved at him, and smiled when he waved back.

On the way home, she felt pretty good. She had managed to hang out with Jess without doing anything that would jeopardize her relationship with Dean, and they were officially friends. It had almost seemed too easy, but Rory didn't want to question it. She had felt thoroughly confused since Jess had got to town, and things felt calm. She wanted to revel in that for a little while.

It didn't last long. "Dean called," Lorelai said when Rory walked in the living room. "A couple of times. Six times, actually," she said, pulling her cheeseburger from the Luke's bag Rory handed her. "Did he think you guys had plans today or something?"

"No, he's been busy all day," Rory said. She left out the part where she and Dean were technically in a fight still. Maybe him calling half a dozen times meant he was over it. "He probably wants to set something up for tomorrow."

"You're in heavy demand lately," Lorelai commented, pulling a strip of crispy bacon off her burger.

Rory's guard went up immediately. "What's that supposed to mean?" she asked. She didn't think there was a way her mom could know about what had happened with her and Jess, but nothing was impossible in Stars Hollow.

Her mom looked at her strangely. "Your grandmother called earlier, too. She wants us to come over for Thanksgiving. She didn't ask a thing about me, but was very firm on the fact that you were to be there. There's nothing quite like spending a day when you're supposed to be giving thanks being judged by your estranged mother."

"Grandma is not estranged," Rory said, although it was true that they didn't see Lorelai's parents very often. They always went to their annual Christmas party and occasionally saw them for Easter, but they rarely had Thanksgiving with them. "It'll be nice," she said, even though Lorelai didn't look convinced. "I'm going to call Dean back." As she walked out of the room she could have sworn she heard her mom say something less than wholesome about her grandma, but she ignored it. It was always a little awkward when they went to her grandparents' house, but it was never unbearable. At least this year Rory had a boyfriend to talk about if her grandparents asked.

Dean answered the phone after one ring, which made Rory think he'd been waiting by the phone for her to call. He had probably just happened to walk past it. "Where were you?" Dean asked after he said hello. "I thought we could go out for dinner once I got home, but your mom said you weren't home."

"I was at Luke's," Rory said, deciding to be truthful. If she and Jess were going to be friends, Dean would just have to accept that. "Why did you want to go out to dinner anyway?" she couldn't help but ask. "I thought you were mad at me."

"I thought we could talk and clear the air," Dean said. "Things got kind of heated yesterday."

"They did," Rory said. Had their fight really just been the day before? She felt exhausted thinking about it. "I have to say, I wasn't a fan."

"I know," Dean said apologetically. "I think I might have overreacted. But things are good now, right?"

Rory sighed. Were things good? She'd had a nice time hanging out with Jess and that was good for her, but she knew Dean wouldn't feel that way. "I guess so," she said. "But I meant what I said, you know. Jess is a good person, and we're friends now. I really hope that's not going to be a problem." She said it firmly, hopefully indicating to Dean that she didn't want to argue about it. She knew it was going to be a problem, but it felt ridiculous and she didn't want to discuss it for a second day in a row.

"You're friends now?" Dean asked incredulously. "How did that happen?"

"We hung out at the diner today," she said. "I didn't have any other plans, and I left my notebook there when I was studying last night so I had to go by and get it anyway." She backtracked, not liking that she was making excuses for hanging out with a friend. "And I like talking to Jess. We talked about books for a while. It was nice."

Apparently that was the wrong thing to say. Dean exhaled sharply, sounding a bit like a dragon. "Well, I'm glad you had a _nice _time," he said sarcastically.

"I don't want to argue about this," Rory said flatly. "I know you're my boyfriend, but you're not allowed to tell me who I can and can't be friends with." It was rare that she stood up to Dean, although it was true that he rarely gave her reason to. Up until Jess had showed up, Dean had been incredibly easygoing. Actually arguing with him was a foreign feeling for Rory, but it did feel good to speak her mind. She had never been one to stand up and speak her mind in tough situations, and breaking out of that box was kind of exhilarating.

Dean was quiet for a minute. "What's going on with you?" he asked. "First you start hanging out with Jess and now you're yelling at me."

"Nothing is going on with me, and I wasn't yelling at you," Rory said. "I just don't want to argue about Jess anymore."

He sighed. "Fine," Dean said, sounding as tired of the conversation as Rory felt. "Well, I called to see if you wanted to go to dinner, but also to tell you that my parents asked me to invite you and your mom over for Thanksgiving if you don't already have plans."

"We're going to my grandparents," Rory said. Even though it was completely true, it would probably sound like an excuse to Dean, since he knew that she very rarely visited her grandparents. "They called earlier," she added. "I bet my mom will use this as a bargaining tool when she doesn't want to go to their Christmas party next month."

Dean let out a small laugh. "Yeah, probably. So, do you want to do dinner tomorrow or something?"

"Maybe," Rory said noncommittally. She didn't have any plans for the next day, but she wasn't sure she wanted to spend her entire evening with Dean. Whenever they went out to dinner they always ended up back at her house or his house until it got late and they had to be home. Normally she enjoyed it, but it just sounded kind of exhausting. She had already spent Friday evening and most of the afternoon at Luke's and it would be nice to have some downtime. "I'll call you tomorrow."

After she and Dean hung up, Rory wondered how exactly she was going to balance being with Dean and being friends with Jess. She was determined to make it work, but she wasn't sure how. She suspected the fact that she was obviously attracted to Jess would make things a bit harder, but she felt like she had something to prove now. She could make her own choices, and she was choosing a new friend.


	10. Everything That I Feel

A/N: I probably would have finished this a few days ago but I got distracted by Hart of Dixie. Damn you, Wade Kinsella! This chapter covers an entire week which seems excessive but I have plans for some Thanksgiving action and it occurred to me that I started the story too soon before Thanksgiving. Oh well, you live and learn. And now that this chapter is done there is nothing standing between me and my reading on broadcast media promotion. Hooray...

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><p>Rory woke up Monday morning feeling even more nervous than she did around midterms. By the time she got to school she had already downed two cups of coffee, hoping to quell the feeling that some sort of apocalypse was approaching. Even though she'd ended up having a nice dinner with Dean the night before, she knew that actually being at school with both of them was going to be a completely different issue. Rory considered heading straight to class when she got to school, but decided to wait outside for Dean like she always did. She usually liked having a couple of minutes to talk with him before the bell rang, but that morning Dean wasn't the only one to join her. Almost as soon as Rory saw Dean walking down the street, Jess walked out of the diner and started walking toward her.<p>

She felt like she was in a movie as Dean and Jess approached her. The boys studiously ignored each other, even when they were standing side by side. Rory would have laughed at how ridiculous the whole thing was if she wasn't so worried something unpleasant was going to happen. "Hi," she said, looking somewhere in between the two of them instead of making eye contact. Before Jess or Dean could say anything Rory sprung off the bench. "We should go inside. It's cold out."

"Good idea," Dean said, pushing past Jess. He grabbed Rory's hand and started walking toward the building, but Jess just followed them. "Can I help you?" Dean asked when Jess stepped on his heel as they walked up the stairs.

"I thought this was like a group thing," Jess said innocently. "Aren't we all friends now?"

Rory started to attempt to cut the conversation short, but Dean jumped in instead. "No, this is a me and my girlfriend thing. If you're looking for a group thing, maybe check out detention after school. I bet you'd feel right at home." The look on Dean's face took Rory by surprise. He looked like he really and truly hated Jess. Rory had always thought of Dean as friendly and surprisingly sweet for a high school guy, and she did not love that he was being straight up rude to Jess.

She dropped Dean's hand, and then adjusted her backpack to make it look like that's what she had meant to do all along. It was weak, but she wasn't about to get into it with Dean in the middle of the hallway. Defending Jess was also not an option if she wanted to avoid drama, but luckily he didn't need Rory jumping to his defense. "Well, it would sure beat running back and forth bouncing a ball for hours," Jess said.

"Yeah, and being on the varsity basketball team will look horrible on my college transcripts too," Dean said sarcastically.

Jess didn't look fazed, which just seemed to piss Dean off more. Rory sighed, holding up a hand. "Time out," she said, causing both boys to look at her in surprise. "You're both being really annoying right now. And class is going to start, so you should probably just… go away." She had never called anyone annoying to their face before (with the exception of her mother, but that was a common occurrence), and Dean in particular did not seem to appreciate it. Jess actually looked a little impressed, and slipped off down the hall without further comment. Dean lingered though, his eyebrows furrowed.

"Okay, what's wrong?" he asked.

"I just told you," Rory said. If Dean expected her to spill a ton of secret feelings since Jess had walked away, he was mistaken. Rory rarely said exactly what she was thinking, and she was starting to learn that it could feel really good when she did. "You know, I thought after we had dinner last night you would just let things go. I thought we'd kind of reached an understanding."

Dean looked confused. "The understanding is that things with us are good," he said slowly. "I'm still allowed to not like Jess."

"But you don't have to provoke him every chance you get," Rory said. "You know, he's only been here like a week and a half. That's pretty quick to make an enemy out of someone."

"Whatever," Dean said dismissively. "I've got to get to class." Without even saying goodbye he stalked off down the hall. Rory just shook her head and took a gulp of coffee from her travel mug, even though it was slightly cold. It was too early in the morning for fighting. Suddenly Rory was actually looking forward to going to her grandparents for Thanksgiving, because Thanksgiving meant a three day break from school. All she had to do was get through the week ahead of her first.

Getting through that week was a lot easier said than done, though. Every morning Jess joined her and Dean before school, which just irritated Dean more and more each day. Toward the middle of the week Dean had finally started to ignore Jess, but that only made Jess start taking shots at Dean. Rory could always stop him with a dirty look, but it was exhausting. Chemistry class was more of the same. Even when they didn't have lab assignments, Dean scowled at Jess from across the room. When they did have lab assignments Rory did her best to talk to Jess as little as possible, entirely too aware of Dean watching them from the back of the room.

Jess asked her if she wanted to work on their chemistry project every day after school and she always turned him down. She turned Dean down when he wanted to do things, too. Over the weekend she had been so certain that she could date Dean and be friends with Jess, but their animosity toward each other at school completely drained all her energy. On Friday after school she fell asleep on the couch, only waking up when Lorelai got home from work nearly three hours later. "So, what are the plans for the weekend?" Lorelai asked. "I have to go into work tomorrow, but I think I can play hooky on Sunday."

"I don't know," Rory said. She hadn't made her usual plans with Dean for the weekend and she had no intent to see Jess, either. "I don't have much homework this weekend. We could go to the mall or something on Sunday." The mall was only twenty minutes from Stars Hollow, but a trip even five minutes from Stars Hollow would've feel like a relaxing vacation.

"I could use some new shoes," Lorelai said, looking at her feet. She was wearing red flats that she had bought less than a month earlier, and they still looked brand new. "Don't you have that big deal chemistry project with Jess?"

"I worked on it a lot this week," Rory said. That was true. Since she had been avoiding the social scene after school, she had actually made a lot of progress. She would do a million group projects by herself if it meant not being distracted by Jess. "It's almost done, actually."

Lorelai frowned. "Isn't that the project you're working with Jess on?"

"Yes," Rory said simply, not wanting to explain that, academically speaking, all her attempts at actually working with Jess had gone rather poorly. "So, what are we going to do next weekend? Are you going to be stuck at the inn with the Thanksgiving crowd?"

Changing the topic worked, thankfully. "Aside from the unfortunate time spent at your grandparents', yes. We're booked to 100% capacity from Wednesday until Sunday, unless people call and cancel. Sookie is already hyperventilating about cooking dinner for so many people."

"Don't most people spend Thanksgiving with their families though?" Rory asked, confused.

Lorelai nodded. "Don't tell Sookie that, though. She's been planning this dinner for a month. Hopefully that means there will be a lot of leftovers," Lorelai said happily. "We'll have Thanksgiving leftover sandwiches until Christmas!"  
>"Please, I beg of you, do not try to recreate Ross' Thanksgiving sandwich," Rory pleaded. She and her mom were probably the last people on earth to start watching Friends, and last Thanksgiving they had watched an episode where Monica made Ross a sandwich with a gravy-soaked piece of bread in the middle. At the time they had thought it was a brilliant idea, until they actually made a sandwich like that. Gravy was great, but a soggy piece of gravy bread was not.<p>

Lorelai clapped her hands excitedly. "I was just thinking about that earlier! I think the trick is to toast the bread for the moist maker first, so it doesn't get as wet."

Rory shook her head. "No moist makers," she said firmly. "Even saying it is gross. New topic, please."

She hadn't considered that they were only on the topic of Thanksgiving because she had changed the topic herself. If she had known Lorelai was so eager to get back to the original topic, she would've talked about soggy bread for another hour. "I haven't seen much of your boy toy this week," Lorelai said immediately. "Did you guys have a fight?"

"No fight," Rory said vaguely. There really hadn't been a fight, after all. "I'm just taking a little break right now."

Lorelai looked concerned. "Like, breaking up?" she asked, laying a hand on Rory's shoulder.

"No, of course not," Rory said. "I just decided to take a few days to myself. Sometimes it feels like I'm constantly hanging out with Dean. I like to have some time alone, too."

"Just like Ross and Rachel," Lorelai said gravely. "You know, that didn't work out too well for them."

Rory sighed. "No, not like Ross and Rachel." She never should have brought up Friends. Now her mom was going to compare everything that happened for the rest of the night to something that happened in an episode of the show. "Nothing even happened. I just wanted to take a few days and relax. It's totally normal, and Dean doesn't even mind." That may or may not have been true. She talked to Dean every day at school of course, but she had even been dodging their nightly calls when she could and keeping them short when she couldn't. She had a feeling Dean wasn't thrilled about all this new alone time, but Rory thought it was important. The last couple of weeks had really thrown her off her axis. Meeting Jess had been exciting at first, but as someone with a pretty routine-based life it didn't take long for Rory to feel exhausted.

"Okay," Lorelai said in a singsong voice that made Rory think she didn't believe her. "So are you going to be avoiding him this weekend too? Because if you are, you should throw in a couple of loads of laundry while I'm at work tomorrow."

"I will do laundry," Rory promised. She would have done the laundry even if she did have plans with Dean, because the last time Lorelai had done laundry she put Rory's favorite sweater in with a load of towels and it came out covered in little towel fuzzies. "And I'm not avoiding Dean," she added uselessly. "I'm just keeping my schedule open."

"Right, I forgot you're Miss Flexibility," Lorelai said sarcastically, getting up and heading toward the kitchen. "I'm going to order a pizza. Do you want the usual or are you going to try something new there, too?" Rory requested her usual and Lorelai went to call it in. When she walked back in the living room, she handed the phone to Rory. "Jess called while I was on the phone," she said. "I'm sure it was about that chemistry project he's been working so hard on."

Rory took the phone and dug through her backpack for the notebook she had written Jess' number in. "Thanks," she said, ignoring Lorelai's dig at Jess. Jess picked up the phone just as she walked in her room. Rory could almost sense her mom listening from the living room. "Hey," she said to Jess, closing her bedroom door. "Sorry, my mom was ordering a pizza."

"No big deal," Jess said. "So what's up?"

"Not much. Nothing, really," Rory amended. "I fell asleep on the couch after school and soon I will be having pizza. What's going on with you?"

"I was kind of surprised you even called me back," Jess said. "It kind of seems like you've been avoiding me. You've barely said a word to me all week. Or is this just how being friends works in Stars Hollow?"

Rory sighed. She had really hoped that her aloofness over the last week would go unnoticed, but that would have been underestimating Jess. "I wasn't avoiding you," she said, even though she had been a little. "I just needed a little break from…" she trailed off.

"From what?"

"From you and Dean," Rory said honestly. "Come on, Jess. You guys have been provoking each other all week."

"Hey, I haven't said a word to the guy," Jess argued.

"Well, that's not true," Rory said. "Yes, Dean has said some rude things, but you aren't innocent here either." Dean had certainly been more verbally aggressive, but Jess was showing himself to be quite the master of low-key antagonizing.

"Hey, is it my fault that Dean has a problem with the fact that I exist?"

That was hard to argue with. "I just don't understand why you wouldn't want to make things easier for yourself. Like, if you know Dean is going to be a jerk to you if you walk up to him, why would you walk up to him?"

Jess started to respond, but paused. "Wait, say that again."

"If you know Dean is going to be a jerk to you if you walk up to him, why would you?" Rory asked more slowly, not knowing where he was going with that.

"You just said Dean is a jerk," Jess said. "If you know he's a jerk then why date him?"

Rory rolled her eyes. "Why try to insert yourself into my relationship when it doesn't concern you?" she countered. "And besides, I didn't say Dean is a jerk. I said he was _acting _like a jerk to you, because you're constantly provoking him. Which is why I spent the week ignoring both you of."

"So you were avoiding me," Jess said. "You're not a very good liar, Rory. And you said he was _being _a jerk. That implies that he is a jerk in general. It's how words work."

"Okay, do not get patronizing," Rory said. "Is this why you called, to question my relationship for the millionth time since you got here?" She was starting to feel like she shouldn't have bothered calling Jess back. Really, she should have expected this. It almost made her question becoming friends with him in the first place. Almost. Truth be told, she kind of enjoyed how he challenged her. It could be a little annoying, but their arguing was kind of cathartic in a way. She hadn't realized how dull her life could be before he moved to Stars Hollow.

"No, I was going to ask if you wanted to go to the movies tomorrow," Jess said. In spite of herself, Rory smiled. She should have been annoyed with him for calling and being a pest about her and Dean – again – but Jess just made it really easy for her to get over it.

Of course, that didn't mean she was actually going to go to the movies with him. "I've got a lot of laundry to do tomorrow," Rory said. "That's going to take a few hours."

"They're doing a Marx Brothers triple feature," Jess said, trying to convince her. "They're showing Horse Feathers, Duck Soup and A Night at the Opera. I think you'd like them."

"I do like them," Rory said a little wistfully. "But I should get this laundry done." The laundry wasn't a big deal, but she wanted to hold her ground.

"Do it on Wednesday," Jess said easily. "We don't have school and the theater will be showing something different by then, so you won't be missing out on the movies then."  
>He did have a good point. Rory knew that if she was going to be hanging out with anyone that weekend it should be Dean, but watching a few movies sounded like fun. And she really did like the Marx Brothers. "I'll go to the first movie," she offered, trying to strike up a compromise. "But then I really have other things to do."<p>

"Okay," Jess said. "But I bet after you watch the first one, you'll want to stay for the other two."

"We'll see about that," Rory said. She probably would want to stay for the other movies, but she was going to stay strong. Just as she was about to point out that she could rent the other two movies and watch them while she was doing laundry, she heard a knock on the door. "Hey, I think our pizza is here. I better go."

"That was fast," Jess remarked.

"Well, we're some of their best customers," Rory said proudly, even though that was probably a little bit sad. "What time is the movie tomorrow?"

"The first one starts at two," Jess said. "Or you could come to Luke's before that and we could eat lunch first."

Rory thought about protesting, but agreed instead. And just like that, her hermit weekend was officially no more. She did feel a little bit guilty about making plans with Jess instead of Dean, but one movie wasn't really that big of a deal, and Dean usually had basketball practice Saturday mornings. He would probably be tired anyway. Still, she grabbed an extra pizza at dinner, hoping that the cheese and sauce would cover up the slightly uneasy feeling in her stomach. Boys were just too much work.


	11. When You Smile

A/N: I can't lie, friends. There are like three paragraphs in this chapter about them actually being at the movies, which is unforgivably light for a chapter about a movie date. But a) people sitting in a movie theater are typically boring and b) I know absolutely nothing about The Marx Brothers or their movies. When it comes to pop culture Rory and I do not share the same tastes at all. I'm sitting over here listening to country music and watching reality TV on Lifetime. I'm not cultured enough to be a Gilmore. My favorite books are the Percy Jackson books. I have no frame of reference for anything Rory likes. I'll hang my head in shame now.

* * *

><p>Lorelai had already left for the inn when Rory got up in the morning, which she was grateful for. She hadn't told her mom that she'd made plans with Jess, knowing that Lorelai was a bit skeptical about their friendship. Rory had a feeling if she had told her mom about her plans she would have asked why she wasn't hanging out with Dean instead. Really, the only reason she'd made plans with Jess was because he'd called before Dean had. If Dean had called first, maybe Rory would be going to the film festival with him instead.<p>

She thought about calling Dean before she headed out to meet Jess at the diner, but she decided against it. If she called him he would probably want to do something that afternoon and she would have to explain that she already had plans. It would be easier to call him when she got home, although she suspected he would be irritated. How did people with big groups of friends juggle all their social responsibilities? Maybe the key there was having friends that actually liked each other.

As she stepped outside, Rory noticed that it had snowed overnight. There was a faint dusting of powder on the porch and driveway. It hadn't stuck to the grass yet, but it was still exciting. Lorelai and Rory loved the first snow of the year, and all the ones after that. Rory thought about inviting Dean on their "first snow of the season" walk that she and Lorelai always took, but decided against it. That tradition was for her and her mom. They always waited until it was dark and walked around town with cups of hot chocolate, just taking in the sharp winter air and glistening snow. It was admittedly less picturesque when the first snow was barely a dusting, but they always made sure to do it again for the first big snow too.

_Maybe I'll ask Dean to take a morning snow walk with me,_ Rory thought. It seemed so romantic, walking around town hand-in-hand with her boyfriend while they enjoyed the snow. Winter always made everything seem more romantic. In Stars Hollow, the first snow seemed to make everyone a little bit happier. She pictured Patty smiling at her and Dean as they walked past the dance studio, and Taylor giving them one of his patented suspicious dad looks. If Rory batted her eyes enough, Luke might even give in and make them cups of hot chocolate mixed with coffee. For the first time all week she was actually excited about the possibility of spending the day with Dean. He had been a pain about her befriending Jess, but he had always been a good boyfriend and she loved him.

It wasn't until she opened the door to Luke's that she remembered she and her mom were going to the mall the next day. So much for her romantic afternoon with Dean. At least she would see him at school on Monday.

"I saw you coming," Jess said as Rory climbed up on a stool at the counter. "New fries should be done in five minutes."  
>"Wow, such service," Rory said, accepting a cup of coffee that Jess held out to her. "Are you working right now?"<p>

Jess shook his head. "Luke had to run upstairs so he left me in charge until he finds whatever he's looking for. I knew you'd be here soon so I thought someone should actually be here to wait on you."

Rory took a sip of her coffee, wondering if Jess had made a fresh pot when he saw her coming toward the diner, too. It tasted a little different, like Luke hadn't made it. "Well color me impressed," Rory said. "I never thought I'd see the day when Jess Mariano actually did something nice for the town voluntarily."

"Not for the town," Jess corrected her. "I just came down to get you coffee and make us fries."

Rory nodded toward the door. "Yes, but since you're down here you have to help other people that might come in the diner."

Jess groaned when the newcomer walked up to the counter. "What can I get for you, Kirk?" he asked.

Kirk leaned forward, trying to peer into the kitchen. "You're not Luke," he said, sounding confused.

"Jess is good too, Kirk," Rory assured him. "He makes great coffee."

Kirk didn't look convinced. He eyed Rory's coffee cup warily. "But Luke knows what shape I like my sandwiches cut into," Kirk said, fidgeting with a salt shaker. "When will he be back?"

"I don't know, but I can cut a sandwich for you," Jess said. "Let me guess, you like sandwiches cut into triangles."

Rory almost laughed at the baffled look on Kirk's face. "No, I like them cut into stars. Luke cuts them into stars for me."

Jess looked like he wanted to throw in the towel and head back upstairs, away from the customers. Rory gave him a smile, trying to encourage him to be nice to Kirk. Being rude to Kirk was along the lines of kicking a puppy. Jess sighed. "How about triangles today?"

Kirk looked like he was about to protest, but Luke walked down the stairs holding a folder. "Hey, Kirk. You want your Saturday usual?"

"Patty melt, no onions," Kirk said cheerfully, giving Jess a last wary look before heading to a table. As soon as he took a seat he jumped up and sat down in a different chair, then squirmed around a bit.

"So does everyone here really think Kirk is normal?" Jess asked quietly, dumping salt over their fries. Rory grabbed a handful before he added pepper to them.

"Kirk is normal," Rory said automatically. "Well, you get used to him after a while."

Jess looked like she had just told him that he was going to be stuck repeating their junior year for the rest of his life. "I've been here for less than three weeks and it already feels like I've been here forever," he said. "Is Stars Hollow in some sort of time warp where one day is equal to like a month in the real world?"

"I guess we'll find out when I go to Hartford on Thursday," Rory said. "If I get there and it's suddenly 2004, I'll be sure to let you know."

"Big Thanksgiving plans?"

"I guess so," Rory said, swirling a fry through a puddle of ketchup. "My grandma called and wants us to go over there for dinner. We've never been over there for Thanksgiving, so I have no idea what to expect. Usually we just go to Lane's and swing by the inn to check on Sookie."

"You come bug me, too," Luke called from the kitchen.

"Bringing someone flowers and Thanksgiving wishes is not bugging!" Rory argued. Luke always seemed put off by them giving him flowers, but she knew it was just an act. "We'll stop by for coffee before we go to Hartford," she promised.

Luke rolled his eyes. "Looking forward to it," he said, sliding two burgers down the counter to Rory and Jess. "Don't you guys have a movie to get to?"

Rory examined her burger. Luke had added extra pickles, just the way she liked it. "You just gave us food," she pointed out. Even so, she checked her watch. The movie started in less than half an hour. "But yes." Lorelai always referred to Rory as annoyingly punctual, but Rory couldn't stand being late to anything.

"We're going to miss the movie if you die," Jess said, watching Rory as she practically inhaled her cheeseburger. "It takes thirty seconds to walk to the theater."

"The movie won't start until I get back from my lunch break anyway!" Kirk added, adjusting his Black White and Read nametag. He lifted up the top piece of bread on the patty melt Luke had just delivered to him. "Luke, I think the cheese on the left half of the patty could be a little more melted!" he called to the kitchen.

"I'll grab it," Jess said, hopping off his stool Rory was about to commend him on his helpfulness when he picked up Kirk's plate, examined it for a second and set it back down. "Looks fine to me."

Kirk looked like he wanted to protest, but Jess just walked back to Rory and grabbed a handful of fries. "You are not a helpful person," Rory said. If Dean was in Jess' place, he probably would've taken Kirk's burger back to the kitchen and watched it diligently until the cheese was perfectly melted. Dean was a nice guy like that. The problem with that was Kirk was meticulous to the point of being slightly crazy and giving into his whims could potentially create a monster. Rory wished she was bold enough to handle things like Jess did. She probably would've tried to fix Kirk's burger too.

Rory tried to slow down, but she still finished her food before Jess did. As if on autopilot, Luke refilled her coffee cup less than thirty seconds after she finished it. If she wasn't looking forward to watching The Marx Brothers she probably would've just stayed at Luke's drinking coffee all day. After a surprisingly exhausting week of ignoring people, it was nice to sit and talk and relax. She was about to suggest that they go back to Luke's for some pie after the movies when she was distracted by someone outside.

The person walking by paused and looked in the window and for a second Rory thought it was Dean. It took her a minute to realize it was just another tall brunette guy, but by that point her heart was already racing. Since arriving at the diner she hadn't actually considered what would happen if Dean stopped by, but now she couldn't think about anything else. "Are you ready to go?" Rory asked as soon as Jess took the last bite of his cheeseburger. "I want to get good seats."

"Do you really think this is going to draw a huge crowd?" Jess asked, though he did pick up their dishes and take them back into the kitchen. "I bet we'll be the only ones there."

"You still have a lot to learn about Stars Hollow," Rory said, shaking her head. "There will be at least, _at least_, three other people there. I would bet you a billion dollars."

"Five people at a triple feature of objectively popular movies is still not a good turn out." Jess shrugged into a bulky canvas coat and held out a hand to Rory. "You ready?"

Rory zipped up her coat and hesitantly took his hand, hopping down from her stool. She thought Jess' hand lingered on hers for a moment, but he let go as soon as she had both feet on the floor. Rory wrote it off as being entirely in her imagination. They had very clearly defined their relationship as just being friends and it would be unfair to Jess to think he was trying anything different. They kept a normal amount of distance on the walk to the theater, with Rory slightly leading the way.

They had both been right about the movie festival. They were not the only people at the theater, but there also wasn't a big crowd. There were about half a dozen other people there, all considerably older than them. "It's too bad this is just a one day thing," Rory commented as they settled into their seats with popcorn. "My mom would love this." Rory was glad she was there with Jess, though. It would be fun to watch some of her favorite movies with someone new. She munched on her popcorn contentedly as the lights went down, excited for the movie to start.

Rory watched Jess more than she watched the movie, though. Every time she knew a good part was coming up she would look over at him to gauge his reaction. Jess was not a particularly expressive person but Rory could tell he was enjoying the movie. What he lacked in emotion, he made up for in concentration. She had thought he had invited her to the movie so they could have a reason to hang out, but he was thoroughly engrossed in the movie. Rory liked that. She had watched dozens of movies with Dean and he liked watching movies as much as she did, but if it was a movie he had seen before he had a tendency of getting distracted and trying to start a conversation. She appreciated how seriously Jess was taking the movie, even though he had made it seem like he had seen it before.

She had said she would only stay for the first movie, but after it ended it didn't even occur to her to leave. "I need more popcorn," she said, shaking the few kernels in her empty bag. "Do you want more?"

"Your pager's going off," Jess said instead, nodding at it.

It was flashing a familiar number. "It's Dean," she said. For a minute she was torn. There was a payphone right outside, and Kirk was struggling trying to set up the second movie. It could be a few minutes before he got it working. "I'll call him later," she decided. "He's probably just checking in." Rory took Jess' popcorn bag and got up to get them refills, hoping to avoid any more Dean conversation. She hadn't told him about going to the movies with Jess and she didn't think she needed to explain that to Jess. It was obvious Dean didn't like him, and the feeling was clearly mutual on Jess' end. She had broken her vow of silence that she'd taken over the week, but that didn't mean she was ready to jump back into the boys' drama.

Rory was in the middle of everything, but she still considered the ridiculousness to be between Jess and Dean. They were the ones antagonizing each other while Rory tried to stay out of it. Maybe she was being naïve, but she didn't understand it. Yes, things had been a bit inappropriate with Jess at first, but they had sorted that out. They were friends, full stop. Dean knew that, and Jess knew that she was 100% with Dean. It was just easiest to sit back and enjoy the movie and let the boys duke it out on their own if they felt so inclined. For now, she was just going to eat some popcorn and watch The Marx Brothers.

The second movie felt like it flew by. Rory knew that she could definitely make it through the third movie, but Jess stretched and looked at her. "Do you want to get some pizza or something?" he asked. "I think this popcorn is mostly air."

"Well it is a discount theater," Rory said, wriggling into her coat. "I could go for some pizza." It hadn't been that long since they'd had lunch and she'd eaten two bags of popcorn, but pizza still sounded good. Watching movies made her hungry. "I stayed for one more movie than I said I would," Rory said as they made their way out of theater. She waved to a frustrated Kirk, who was struggling with the reel for the third movie. He gave a halfhearted wave back. "You were right. I couldn't resist The Marx Brothers."

"No one can," Jess said as they walked down the street to the pizza place. While they were in the theater it had started snowing again, and this time the snow was sticking. Rory loved watching the fat white flakes drifting through the patches of light from the streetlamps, but at the same time it made her a little bit sad. She felt like she should have been walking through town with Lorelai or Dean. Something about walking in the dark while the snow came down felt so intimate. It would snow dozens more times over the winter of course, but Rory felt like this was the first real snow and it was going all wrong. No matter how irrational it seemed, she felt like she was there with the wrong person. Even though they were nearly at the pizza place, Rory considered telling Jess she was just going to go home. Before she could, Jess spoke up. "I like snow," he said.

It was simple, but it made Rory feel more connected to him. "I don't think I've ever heard you say you like anything," Rory said, her unsettled feeling fading slightly. "I like snow too."

"It just makes everything quieter," Jess said. Instinctively, Rory stopped and listened for a second. She had always thought the same thing. Whenever it was snowing everything just seemed hushed, like the whole town was holding its breath.

"I always take a walk with my mom the first time it snows every year," Rory said. "We get hot chocolate and walk around the town square at night, but we always just end up sitting in the gazebo and watching the snow come down. We've been doing it since I was a little kid."

Even though they were only a few yards from the pizza place, Jess slowed down. "Are you missing out on your walk now?"

Rory shrugged. "I'm sure we'll go on one later tonight," she said. "My mom wouldn't want to miss it. But technically this is my first snow walk of the year."

Jess hesitated outside of the pizza place, looking at Rory. At once it seemed to be decided that they were going to keep walking. As the edged around a bench, they brushed into each other. "This is good too, though," Jess said.

She assumed he was talking about skipping out on pizza in favor of going for a walk, but Rory was thinking about taking her snow walk with Jess instead of her mom or Dean. She nodded. "This is good too."


	12. Freeze Time Around Me

"I hope your weekend was better than mine was," Dean said through a yawn on Monday morning. It was entirely possible he hadn't noticed that Rory had kept her distance from him last week, because he walked up to her locker like the whole thing had never happened.

Rory was about to come up with some sort of answer when Dean forged ahead. "Coach extended practice by three hours on Saturday because he said we all needed to get faster. He made us run suicide drills for an hour."

"I have no idea what that means," Rory said, pulling her books out of her locker. She did her best to follow along when Dean talked about basketball, but ifs he was being honest she had absolutely no interest in basketball at all. She went to his games occasionally, if she could get Lane to go with her. Since no one really went to the Stars Hollow High basketball games Dean was never too upset about it.

Dean looked like he was about to explain, but thought better of it. "It's not important. But they're not fun. Thank god there's only two days of school this week. I never want to go to basketball practice again." Dean put his arm around Rory's waist. The hallway wasn't very romantic, but Rory appreciated the gesture. "It sucks that you have to go to your grandparents' for the holidays. I thought it would be fun if you guys came over. You could meet my cousins."

"I know, but my grandma has never invited us over for Thanksgiving before. She must have something special planned or something." Rory hadn't spent too much time dwelling on going to her grandparents'. She'd been there for Christmas, so she had a good idea of how it would go. Of course, they always had a Christmas party, so there were other people there. Rory had no idea what their Thanksgiving traditions were. Still, it was one day. If it went badly it would be over soon enough.

"You'll just be gone on Thursday though, right?" Dean asked. "We'll still have all weekend to hang out."

Rory nodded. "Of course." As they approached her classroom she kissed his cheek. She wasn't sure how she would feel after avoiding Dean for a week, but she felt like the break had done her some good. It had been kind of nice to have a chance to actually miss him. The more she thought about it, the more excited she was to be able to hang out with him during the long weekend. Maybe they could even take a belated snow walk.

She slipped into her usual seat in English, not paying much attention to the people around her as she looked in her backpack for her homework. "Class hasn't even started yet," someone remarked. "Has anyone ever told you that you might like to be prepared a little bit too much?"

"You aren't even in this class," Rory said, looking up at Jess. He must have sat down in the desk next to her as soon as she bent down to get in her backpack. "You're going to be late to your actual class."

"It's gym," Jess said with a shrug. Everyone had to take gym at some point, but Rory could not picture Jess dressing out to play indoor soccer with overeager freshmen. "And I couldn't talk to you in the hallway because you were with Dean, and Dean just strikes me as the kind of guy who would start swinging."

Rory rolled her eyes. "Dean would never hit someone," she said. "And you didn't have a problem bugging Dean last week."

"But that was before our date," Jess said. "I'm guessing you didn't tell Dean about that?"

"It was not a date," Rory said incredulously. "We went to the movies and got pizza." After taking in the snow during a lap around the town square, they had ended up back at the pizza place. Rory liked their walk, but the pizza place had felt like more comfortable territory. Friends got pizza together all the time. Aside from creamed spinach or maybe pork chops, pizza was probably the least romantic food there was.

"That sounds exactly like a date."

"Maybe on the surface, but it was not a date," Rory argued. "It's all about the intention. And my intention was to watch a movie and eat some pizza. With a friend." Judging by the smirk on Jess' face he clearly liked seeing Rory getting riled up. "Go to class," she huffed, turning back to her backpack. She pulled out her notebook and pen and set them on her desk alongside her homework, just to bug Jess. She had a feeling Jess was the type of person to show up for class without even a pen. Every time she saw him in the hallway he was never carrying a backpack.

Jess stood up just as the two minute warning bell rang. "See you in chemistry," he said. Before Rory could think of something clever to say back (although really, there was no clever response to be had there), he walked out the door.

She did see him in chemistry, but their teacher spent the whole hour talking about preparing for their midterm exam coming up. Normally Rory tried to take diligent notes, but their teacher could not have been duller if he had tried. It was obvious everyone was running on fumes, just waiting for Thanksgiving break.

Tuesday seemed to drag on forever, but the bell finally rang and a collective sigh of relief swept through the school. The halls were full of chatter as she left, with people making plans for their days off. The excitement was infectious, but Rory had no one to make plans with on Wednesday. Luke had Jess working at the diner, and both Lane and Dean had family coming in for the holiday. Lorelai made up for her lack of social contact on Wednesday, though. The complaints began the second she got home from work.

"I don't understand why we're going," she said again on Thursday afternoon as she fastened a bracelet around her wrist. "We should have just told them no and gone for Christmas like we always do. At Christmas there are apple tarts. And other people for them to talk to."

"It won't be bad," Rory said, patting her mom's shoulder. "And you've been pretending to put on that bracelet for about five minutes now. We need to leave. Grandma said we should be there by three."

Lorelai heaved a huge sigh. "Alright, I will go. But I'm not going to be happy about it."  
>"I don't think anyone expects you to," Rory said honestly.<p>

That was definitely true. From the second they got to the elder Gilmore's house things were very stilted. From their Christmas parties, Rory had expected a few other people to be over for Thanksgiving but they were the only ones there. Richard poured them all drinks and they sat in the living room, mostly sipping them in silence after exchanging the perfunctory greetings. Once they got past talking about how nice the girls looked and how traffic was, the conversation dwindled into nothing. Rory didn't know her grandparents well enough to bring up any shared interests they could possibly have, and Lorelai wasn't offering any topics of conversation.

Rory did notice one thing, though. While they sat with their drinks, her grandparents kept exchanging glances like they were waiting for something. It put Rory's nerves on edge. She was about to ask a question, any question, just to break the silence when her grandma finally spoke up.

"Your father and I ran into Hanlon and Bitty Charleston the other day," Emily said, taking a sip of her gimlet. She looked at Lorelai expectantly.

"Well, I hope you have a good insurance policy then," Lorelai said. Rory could tell her mom had absolutely no idea who the Charlestons were, but it wasn't like her to not spin it out for as long as possible.

Emily started at Lorelai blankly. Apparently she hadn't picked up on the hit and run joke. "You remember Hanlon and Bitty, Lorelai. They always used to come to our Christmas parties."

"Were they the couple that always dressed only in purple?"

"We don't know anyone who only wears purple," Emily said, sounding exhausted. Rory suspected that was the exact second that she realized she should've avoided bringing up old friends altogether.

"Oh, then no," Lorelai said. "I don't remember Hanlon and Bitty."

Emily took another sip of her drink, looking like she was trying to keep her composure. "Hanlon is the headmaster of the Chilton school," Emily said at last. Lorelai shook her head, but Rory's ears perked up. She had heard of Chilton before. It was an elite college preparatory school in Hartford that cost more per semester than most state colleges. The people who went to Chilton would be her competition for getting into Harvard the next year.

"Mom, please get to the point," Lorelai said. "You're just going to be disappointed if you expect me to be familiar with the careers of every person in your social circle."

She sighed. "Hanlon said that they have an opening in the junior class for the spring semester," she said flatly. "If Rory can get accepted, your father and I would like to pay for her to attend Chilton this year and next. It's a wonderful school, with a lot more academic opportunities than her current school can provide."

"You're kidding," Rory said, even though her grandma had been talking to her mom.

"I am not kidding," Emily said, sounding confused. Rory was sure she didn't know how to kid. Still, she couldn't believe what she was hearing. An opportunity like this came once in a lifetime, if that. She was about to kowtow at her grandparents' feet in gratitude when Lorelai jumped in.

"What's the catch?" she asked. Rory looked at her mom worriedly. Given Lorelai's relationship with her parents, she could feel the offer slipping out of her hands. Rory admired how proud and independent her mom was, but she could tell she was on the verge of turning down the offer. If her grandma had a laundry list of contingencies, Rory knew she could kiss Chilton goodbye.

Emily rolled her eyes. "There are no strings attached, Lorelai. We want to do something nice for our granddaughter." Lorelai just eyed her mother, not backing down. Finally Emily sighed. "All we want is for you and Rory to come over for dinner on Friday nights. We'd like to see you more."

"Then visit us in Stars Hollow," Lorelai said immediately. "That's not only a string, that's a whole skein of yarn."

"I thought you'd have grown out of your dramatic streak by now," Emily said. "Having a nice meal with us once a week is not a hardship."

"It's a 45 minute drive each way," Lorelai said. "I know some people have more difficult lives than I do but even I would consider that a hardship."

Rory wanted to jump in and head off a fight, but she knew this wasn't her battle. The issue wasn't her going to Chilton; it was spending more time with her grandparents. "Stars Hollow is less than 30 miles away," Emily said. "If you take the highway it should not take 45 minutes to get here."

"In rush hour traffic?" Lorelai pointed out. "Have you ever been in rush hour traffic, Mom? The speed limit drops down to approximately ten miles an hour."

"We eat dinner at seven," Emily said, clearly prepared for any objection Lorelai could throw her way. "Seven is well after peak driving hours."

"But you'll insist on having cocktails first," Lorelai shot back. "So we'd have to get here at six, which means leaving the house at 5:30. Which is, what do you know, right in the middle of rush hour."

Richard had been silent through the whole tennis match, but he spoke up then. "Why don't you ask Rory what she thinks?" he asked, looking solemnly at her. Rory barely knew her grandfather, but she gave him a look of gratitude.

Like they had choreographed it, her mom and grandma both turned to look at her. "Well, I would really love to go to Chilton," Rory said diplomatically. "I've read a lot about it, and it is a great school." Her mom looked surprised at that. Rory had always wondered what it would be like to go to a school like Chilton, but they were so expensive she had never shared that with Lorelai. She knew they could never afford it. "Chilton has an amazing acceptance rate when it comes to Ivy League schools. It seems like if you do well there you have your pick of colleges." She took a deep breath, knowing that she had to get to the heart of the issue. "And I think dinner once a week sounds reasonable. More than reasonable. This is an indescribably generous offer," she said, avoiding eye contact with her mom.

Lorelai had been sitting rigidly on the couch, but Rory could see her beginning to relax. Rory knew she understood how important this opportunity was even though there were probably a million things she would rather do than visit her parents every Friday night. Rory knew they didn't get a long, but it seemed like such a small price to pay for an amazing education. "Why do you really want to have dinner with us?" Lorelai asked Emily. "I have never tried to keep you from visiting us, but you never have. You've never invited us over except on holidays. And now you want to see us every week?"

Emily was quiet for a moment. "We see our friends and they all have stories about their children and grandchildren," she said. "They take vacations and get together for events and birthdays. And I have nothing to tell them about my family. What am I supposed to say, that I only see my daughter and granddaughter at Christmas because my daughter doesn't want to see us? We did invite you over regularly, Lorelai. After you left we tried for months to get you to come visit us. But you turned us down every single time. You didn't come to our Christmas parties when Rory was a baby." She paused, leaving a heavy silence in the room as she took a sip of her drink. "That is why we trying to invite you over, Lorelai. That's why we stayed away. It is painful to be rejected by your own daughter over and over again."

Lorelai took a shaky breath, but she stood her ground. "And now you've come up with an arrangement that means I can't say no," she said. "You've come up with a way to bind us to visiting on your schedule. Do you even want to see us, or do you just want to have something to talk about at the club with your friends?"

You'd need a Ginsu knife to cut the tension in the room, but Emily and Richard's maid still picked that moment to walk in. "Dinner is ready," she announced, oblivious to Emily and Lorelai's stony expressions. Without a word, Lorelai drained the rest of her martini and headed into the dining room. Rory was unsure of what to do, but followed grandmother once she got up too.

Rory was pretty sure there had never been a quieter Thanksgiving dinner. As she worked her way through her turkey and potatoes she imagined how things were going back in Stars Hollow. Sookie was probably hyperventilating in the kitchen at the Independence Inn, even though things always went off without any major hitches. Lane's family gathering was always a little bit awkward since her relatives were a very no-nonsense bunch, but even they had conversations and music playing in the background. The only sound in the Gilmore dining room was forks scraping against plates.

After they had finished their dessert Lorelai pushed her chair back from the table and stood up. "Come on, Rory," she said. Rory glanced and her grandparents, but followed her mom to get their coats. Emily and Richard caught up with them in the foyer.

"Well, I supposed we'll see you girls another time," Emily said. She sounded dignified, but Rory could see sadness in her eyes. A part of her wanted to hug her grandma and apologize for the awkward dinner, but they just didn't have that kind of relationship.

Lorelai looked like she wanted to bolt, but she just sighed and looked at her mom reluctantly. "Where can I go to get a Chilton application?" she asked.

For a brief second, Emily's eyes lit up. She covered it up by smoothing out her skirt, which was already impeccably pressed. "I have one in the living room," she said, walking out to get it.

"Thank you," Rory said quietly to her mom. All Rory could think about was the opportunity to go to an amazing school, but she knew that her mom wasn't happy with the arrangement that Emily had made.

Emily walked back in the foyer, holding a surprisingly thick set of papers that she handed to Lorelai. "Well, we'll see you girls next Friday at seven," she said.

"If Rory gets accepted," Lorelai grumbled. Rory kicked her ankle. "We'll see you Friday," she said. Rory thought she tried to hide it, but her grandma smiled.

Once they were outside Lorelai let out a huge sigh. "You sure you want to go to this school, kid?" she asked Rory. "Dean might miss you."

"He'll get over it," Rory said. "This is a great school, Mom. And hey, if dinner is anything like it was tonight at least we'll have good food on Friday nights."

Lorelai shook her head as they climbed in the car. "I'm going to start making you pay for gas."


End file.
